


Nuts, Bolts & Flowers

by computerblue



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure, F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Minor Violence, Non-Graphic Violence, Omnic Racism, Other, Platonic Relationship, or not it's totally up to you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-06 06:27:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 35,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11030526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/computerblue/pseuds/computerblue
Summary: A young mechanic has a startling meeting with the notorious war machine, Bastion Siege Automaton E54. At first she feels fear and runs, but noticing it's acting strange, finds herself returning to it. What will become of her and this former symbol of destruction?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time every writing a story/fanfic so please be patient with me as I am trying to learn quickly as I go. Concrit and comments welcome.  
> A lot of the noises Bastion makes that are actually typed out are voice lines from the game itself so I hope that puts things into perspective.

“Please try to be careful,” the young woman sighed before continuing, “I’m running low on supplies and don’t know when I will be receiving parts that can fix larger injuries like this.” She suspected that the warning didn’t meaning anything and that monk traveled and would not be back soon.

The omnic placed a hand on her arm. The cool metal of his palm and fingers brought small bumps to her warm, lightly perspired skin. It was a kind gesture, befitting of the monk it belonged to. _He must have come from that omnic monastery in Nepal_ , she thought to herself.

“I will try my best. Some people still do not wish to accept omnics after the crisis. They believe all omnics will bring harm to humans and resort to violence to try and remove us,” somber at first, the voice lifted continuing, “but I believe that there is hope for a better future. A future in which omnic and human can live together in peace.”

The young woman gave the monk a small smile. She didn’t know if she really believed the monk’s idea was possible, but a peaceful future was something she yearned for regardless of whether she thought it was obtainable or not. She let herself drift off into a world of peace while putting away her tools. The omnic walked to the door but instead of exiting turned and looked quietly at her for a second.

“You have helped many of my kind without prejudice or asking for payment. A very senseless act and for that peace will follow you.”

Before she could even look up to thank him, the monk was already gone. _It wouldn’t feel right to charge a monk anyway_ , she snorted to herself sarcastically.  
The sun was high up in the sky and the day was too nice to be stuck in the small repair shop. The young woman quickly put away the remaining supplies that she used to fix the omnic’s leg. She didn’t have any scheduled appointments and didn’t feel like sitting in the shop waiting for random walk-ins.

 _I could use this opportunity to look for some supplies_ , she realized to herself. She vaguely remembered hearing people say that there were leftover remains of omnics around the forest outside of town. Of course, few people dared to actually go there. It reminded the people of a darker time and brought back memories of the omnic crisis. She was too young to know anything about the world at the time.

“I really was lucky…” she whispered aloud thinking of all the patients she’s met and the stories of horror some of them had told her.

They ranged in ages. From young children to senior citizens. Majority of the older patients were survivors of the war and as a result every one of them had at least one part of their body that was mechanical. It was her job to fix up those parts and keep them running as smoothly as possible. It wasn’t always easy, supplies were expensive and sometimes hard to come by, but she always found a way to manage. But lately it was getting harder. For some reason supplies were coming in at smaller quantities. A few times now she had to turn down customers and refer them to the newly opened prosthetic business in the city because she didn’t have all the parts required for their repairs. She was honestly surprised she actually had all the parts for the monk she just helped.

“What a mood killer,” she closed her eyes and rubbed them, “I need a break.”

Grabbing a large duffel bag, she decided on heading out to the forest to look for supplies and to take her mind off of her daily life. In the bag were a few tools to disassemble anything she found, a couple of waters, an apple and her keys. She changed into a loose black pullover sweater, some grey cargo pants and a pair of boots so that she could work in comfort. Her short, messy hair wasn’t long enough for a ponytail at the moment so she grabbed a few hair clips in order to pin back any hair that got in her way.

“I suppose that’s everything,” she said looking around the shop making sure she didn’t leave anything important behind. As she was about to walk out the door she had a thought and set her bag down, taking her keys out. She walked to her desk and got on her knees, searching for the little box she kept for emergencies. Opening it with her key, she found the small pistol still in there, fully loaded. Just in case, she thought to herself. She really didn’t expect to use it, but she didn’t know what resided in the woods and wanted some form of safety since she was alone.

\--  
A small yellow and white bird flies through the woods searching for small twigs and branches to continue building its nest. After finding a suitable piece it flies itself back to its nest and puts the piece in place. Looking at the nest for a moment the bird cocks its head in satisfaction and turns around, spotting a vine on a leaf it pulls it off and sets it on its nest and lets out a small chirp. Turning its attention back to the place it found the vine from the bird begins to peck at the mossy structure it has made a home out of. Once again the little bird cocks its head, as if it has noticed something, and begins to peck at the moss growing. Crumbling away, a small glass like window becomes visible to the little bird, now intrigued. Pecking at the glass does nothing, so the little bird flies to different parts and leaves small pecks there. Small metallic, echoes sound from each tiny peck. After four more tiny pecks the object comes to life with light robotic sounds. The bird returns to the small slit like window and sings a little inquisitive tune. A blue light blinks on and the little bird flies away, startled.

A robotic being covered in grasses and moss stands up, dirt falling from its body. Returning, the little bird darts around the robot chirping. The robot looks at its left hand and flexes the fingers, gaining a sense of feeling and movement again. It turns its attention to the right arm and turns it inquisitively. Diverting its attention, the little bird goes by and lands on a tree in front of the robots view chirping, and again cocks its head to the side.

The robot returns the gesture and lets out a little sound as if to mimic the bird. A series of beeps sound and what appears to be a map appears in the robots view. It has little dashed lines leading to a red circle. The map projects itself onto the forest and gives the robot a path to follow. The robot decides to follow the path and with a series of whirring and heavy footsteps thudding on the ground begins to head in the direction of the red dot.

While making its way to its destination the robot takes in its environment and the inhabitants. Looking up it sees rays of light shining in between the trees, casting little beams breaking up the shadows. Using a fallen tree as a bridge the robot stops to look at a deer, who for a brief second returns eye contact that leaps away.  
\--  
Right outside of the city the young woman looks out at the field. She squints hoping to get a clearer view of the forest.  
“That’s a lot farther out than I realized, perhaps I should wait a day or two and then I can get an earlier start,” she begrudgingly moaned aloud.

“Where are you headed off to?” asks a familiar voice from the side of her.  
Oh God.  
“None of your business, Frederich“ the woman hissed out, obviously annoyed with the man similar in age.  
“Oh, no need to be so feisty. I was just wondering where my favorite little mechanic was going. What if I needed work done? That’s no way to treat a loyal customer,” he taunted.

“If you needed work done, then it would have to wait because it means you purposely broke your hand, considering I just fixed it last week” she snapped back.

“Can you blame me? I just want to hang around my little mechan-“ he started.

“Quit calling me that” the woman barked turning to him, “I’m not your ‘little’ mechanic. I’m here for anyone that needs help and understands that their parts are important and aren’t just toys to be replaced,” she quips at him.

“Ouch,” he returns, placing a hand over his heart in fake hurt, “but really where are you going?”

The woman rolled her eyes, “home,” and quickly spun on her heels back towards the way she came.  
\--  
Water falls from the sky in a light cadence, light thunder rumbles in the air and sets the tone for a gloomy day.  
“Well I guess I’m not looking for any parts today. I hope whatever’s out there, doesn’t get ruined,” whines the young mechanic rolling over in her bed.  
\--  
In the forest, the robot continues its path towards the destination from the map. The cool rain proceeded to fall and drench everything in the open. The robot, sticks its hand out, letting rain drops collect in its palm. Almost hypnotized by the water the robot is surprised and releases a small beep when the yellow bird that awakened it lands in its palm. The bird and robot look at each other for a bit before the bird bends over and drinks from the water collected in the robots metallic palm. After taking its fill the bird flies off and the robot decides to follow.  
\--  
The rain finally subsided leaving a fresh, crisp air to breathe in.  
“What a great day for the trek,” the young mechanic smiles taking in a deep breath of air, “and I’m glad I got out of the city without anyone, especially Frederich, seeing me” she laughs at this. How bothersome people could be sometimes.  
Moving forward the woman continues towards the forest with a bounce in her step.  
\--  
The robot continuing his journey, comes across a pond and pokes his finger in. A fish leaps out and catches his attention for a second. He continues his journey stopping to curiously look at any forms of life it comes across.  
Stopping to rest in a light beamed covered field the robot, holds up a small branch, wanting to help his little bird friend with his nest which is still resided on him. As he slowly moves his hand to put the twig on the nest a flurry of cracks in the air.  
The robot jolts up and looks around. He turns in circle looking for the source of the sound. Again, the sound pops through the air, seemingly louder this time. The robot’s vision becomes red and before he knows it he has transformed himself into a large gun.  
Bullets light up the forest, cutting down trees, and scaring off local wildlife. The barrel of the robot’s large gun now smokes from the rapid action.  
Transforming back into its original state the robots vision is no longer red and blinks back to its original blue. The robot, as if not knowing what it has done, looks at its right arm then down at the nest that once resided on its shoulder, on the floor smashed. A single feather from its bird friend floats down to land on top of the pile. Jerking its head up the robot looks around at the fallen trees and lets out a baffled beep and continues to take in the destruction it has caused. Hurt, the robot releases a sad whirring sound and looks down in shame.  
\--  
"What was that?" the mechanic breathed out, hands on her sides trying to catch her breath. -- Exiting the forest the ashamed robot heads out of the forest, looking back one final time before setting its sight on the city. But while looking back, it bumps into something hard on the ground. Glancing down, the robot sees a body similar in appearance to its own. Looking around it spots more of these familiar bodies.

The robot transforms its hand into a different little contraption and puts it to the head of the fallen robot.  
Thrown back into time the robot sees a war between humans and other robots, all just like him. The land is dark and there’s death of both the robots and the humans. There’s gunshots everywhere and bullets flying all around. The scene is of nothing but death and destruction.  
Seeing red again the robot cocks its gun and head straight for the city in its view.  
\--  
Deciding to detour and break the monotony of walking straight the mechanic decided to make a slight right turn and take that path instead. Luckily it had quickly led her to some old fallen robots.  
“This a Bastion Siege Automaton E54 model,” silently gasped the young woman. Sweat beading on her forehead she felt a cold, hollow knot in her chest and a shiver ran down her back.

Hearing heavy footsteps she jerked her head to her left and eyes widened in horror as she spotted another E54 model, but this time walking.

This can’t be happening. This cannot be happening. Please…no. Her mind rushed with the worst possible thoughts. She ducked down and tried to conceal herself as best as possible behind the fallen E54 she had just discovered, making sure to keep an eye on the near E54 that was alive and walking towards her city.

“What do I do? What do I do,” she frantically whispered covering her mouth with her hand, tears brimming in her eyes. “I can’t let it reach Stuttgart, but what do I do?”

Suddenly remembering the pistol, she quickly grabbed her duffel bag. They have a weakness, where was it? Where was it? The young mechanic’s head was in a whirl and her breathing was becoming ragged. She could feel herself losing composure and took deep breaths trying to calm down. All the while she watched as the E54 unit kept walking forward.  
I have to calm down, or it will destroy everything back home. I can’t let that happen.  
Finally regaining just enough composure to grab the pistol the young mechanic aimed it at the walking robot.  
As she was taking aim at its weak spot in the back she spotted a small yellow bird land on the robot.  
“No…” she breathed in in horror.  
She couldn’t tell exactly what the bird had put on the arm of the robot, but she heard it let out a series of positive chirps. Her gun lowered slightly as she watched the robot pick up something small, and upon squinting she realized it was a twig.  
She could not believe her eyes. The Bastion looked to the small bird and its light began to flicker between red and blue.  
Red.  
Blue.  
Red. Blue. Red. Blue. Red.  
Blue.  
She brought up one of her hands to her mouth as she watched the unit put the twig on its shoulder and the bird fly around it happily. The E54 did circles trying to follow the bird and finally turned the opposite direction of the city and began walking back towards the forest, the bird settling in its hands.

“Oh my God,” the mechanic whispered, tears running down her eyes. Fear and confusion were coursing through her veins.  
All she could think about was running home, but she was shaking and felt heavy. Cramming her supplies back into her bag she quietly got up in order not to catch the robots attention. Taking one step she held her breath hoping it would not turn her way, when it continued on she picked up her other foot and went to step when it caught on the robot body under her.

Her body fell across the robot, arm making hard impact with the head area, and she let out a whimper. Tears rolled down her eyes and her heart pounded in her ears, throat, and entire body. She knew the walking robot had heard her and when she looked up and made direct eye contact with the blue window of the Bastion.  
Squeezing her eyes closed in hopelessness, the woman expected to hear a gun cock and to have her life come to an end. Instead she heard the thudding stop, then quickly start again, getting softer. Her eyes shot open and where the Bastion once stood, there was nothing. At the edge of the forest she saw the Bastion turn around once more and look in her direction.  
She jumped up, leaving everything behind and sprinted towards the city. Boots pounding on the ground she continued to run not once looking back. Every so often her hands came into contact with the ground and she hand to push herself up and continue.

Long behind her the Bastion unit kept watch from behind the cover of a tree. Its bird friend now perched on its shoulder.  
“Zwee?” the Bastion beeped out, tilting its head.


	2. Chapter 2

Chest and stomach burning the young mechanic finally stopped running when she made it to the edge of the city. She gasped for air and gagged, stomach finally punishing her for pushing too hard. Her throat seared and cracked, begging for moisture. Her vision was coming in and out of focus, and her head was pounding like it was going to bust open.  
The sun was still in the sky and the cool air was like shards of glass cutting her throat with each breath. I have to get water she thought breathing harshly trying to compose herself enough to enter the city without suspicion.

  
“Hey! Are you okay?” shouted a worried familiar voice.

  
_Damn. So much for not being noticed._

  
Dropping his tools Frederich jogged up to the mechanic, who was now curling over on her knees. He placed his hand on her shoulders and pulled her back up so she was sitting up straight. Her eyes were half-closed and out of focus and her skin was red and drenched in sweat leaving pieces of her hair stuck to her cheeks and forehead.  
“What did you do? Were where you? I need to get you some water and quick,” Frederich’s interrogation was not helping the exhaustion the woman was feeling and despite her fatigue he still annoyed her. To her luck he actually left to get water from the items he dropped.  
Quickly returning, he opened the water bottle and brought it up to the mechanic’s cracked lips. Once the water hit her tongue, a new energy was put into her. She snatched the bottle from his hands. She forced down large gulps that caused Frederich to encourage her to slow down, which she silenced with a quick glare. Finishing the water, she closed her eyes trying to stop the ringing that joined in with the drumming her head.

  
“…What happened?” Frederich cautiously inquired.

  
“Nothi-,“ before she could respond, she felt her body fall backwards and everything went black.

  
\--

Eyes slowly fluttering open were met with a bright white light. Hands were quickly used to shield the intense burning and a string of curse words were croaked out.  
“Now, that’s no way for a proper lady to speak,” came a smug voice.

Bolting up the mechanic felt a spark then grabbed her head and hissed.

“Where am I? How long have I been out?” was forced out of gritted teeth. Eyes still closed, because of the sharp pain.

“The hospital, dear” came a monotone, matter-of-fact voice from the other end of the room, “2 days. Your friend there carried you in and said you had passed out on the outskirts of the city.”

“Oh,” she whispered, looking over to Frederich who had a cocky smirk on his face. Hating the look on his face she frowned with disgust and turned back to the woman quizzically.

“I’m your doctor,” the woman yawned, “your pretty much fine now, but when you came in you were severely dehydrated. I’m going to let you go tonight because that’s no reason to keep an adult” she paused at adult peering at the young woman over her glasses accusingly, “here any longer for such a silly reason. But be more cautious and get some rest, please.”

And with that the doctor walked out of the room. She was straight to the point and didn’t try to pry into why the woman ended up in the hospital. The mechanic snorted and smiled thinking about how the world needed more doctors like her.

“Excuse you,” a singsong tone rang, “I’m still here.”  
“Okay and why?” snapped the woman in the bed.  
“A thank you would suffice. Who knows what could have happened to you if I hadn’t of seen you” Frederich started mischievously, “in fact…I think you owe me for this. I practically saved your life.”

Letting out a loud scoff, “You can’t be serious?” She rolled her eyes.  
Frederich locked eyes with her, his messy brown hair strewn all over the place more than it usually was. His cheeks and forehead were red and she could tell he had just caught his breath not too long ago. Shit, he really did help me though.

“Fine,” she sighed in defeat, “What?”

“Tell me what you were doing outside the city like that” he cocked a brow, leaning back in his seat with crossed arms.  
“That’s none of your business,” she looked him straight in his eyes, standing her ground.  
“I think it is considering I found you” he jabbed back “you’ve been acting suspicious since that pile of rubbish calling itself a monk left your shop.”  
Eyes widening for a second then narrowing, “Don’t disrespect my patients,” continuing through grit teeth, “How do you know who came through my shop?”  
“I was passing by, but I saw he didn’t pay you,” he scoffed.  
“I didn’t ask to be paid. Sometime people do things out of kindness” she emphasized the last part.  
“Omnics don’t deserve kindness. They’re machines, killers” Frederich clenched his fist.  
Silence took over the room. A minute passed, nothing was said.  
“Get out of my room,” the mechanic suddenly demanded.  
\--  
The Bastion unit had waited some time before going back out of the forest making sure that no one was returning. The robot tiptoed as best as his heavy feet could to where he had previously seen the woman. Looking around he spotted a large bag left open, belongings strewn across the ground. Letting out a flurry of different beeps he reached out for some of the stuff.  
He ignored the tools, mainly familiar with them as he had attachments very similar to repair himself. But, the sight of a bright red object caught his attention. He picked it up and brought it close to his face. Turning it left, right, upside down, and back to its initial position he was enamored by the object. He didn’t understand it, but his little friend found some enjoyment from it as the bird kept pecking at it and moving its beak every so often, then returned to pecking it. Letting out another slow pulse of beeps the robot stopped when he focused on the small pistol that was cast aside. His blue light flickered to red for a split second before returning to blue and he kicked it away, sending it quite a distance away. He spent hours looking at the objects that had fell out of the bag, examining them and figuring out how they work.


	3. Chapter 3

_That E54…it didn’t attack me. I should be dead, no one survives a meeting with a Bastion._ The young mechanic felt a shiver run down her back as she lingered over the last thought. She was finally back home and after showering and changing clothes she barricaded herself in and wrapped up in bed.

“What do I do” the woman whined “my stuff is still out there.”

She ran her hands down over her face, letting out a harsh sigh. Those items were fairly valuable and she knew that she couldn’t just leave them out there. But she feared the chance of running into the E54 again. _It didn’t matter that it didn’t attack. I might not be as lucky as the last time._ She tried to convince herself that the tools weren’t worth risking her life for, but one thing nagged at the back of her mind.

“Why did it run away?” she whispered, eyes searching in the darkness of her room.

\--

Before the sun could creep its way into the sky, the young mechanic got out of her bed. She had settled that she would finish what she started, along with a new task.

  
“Get your bag, salvage what you can from those fallen E54s and” she paused uneasy, “and study that living onw.”

She repeated the three goals like a mantra as she packed a medium backpack full of water, food, and a clipboard and pens. She tied her jacket around her waist and stuffed her safety googles into one of the many pockets of her gray pants.  

“Alright, let’s do this” she whispered to herself as she walked out the door towards her garage.

Instead of going straight through the middle of the city she decided to leave out the back and loop around. Now that she had a hovercycle the trip would be much faster and she wouldn’t have to run back if something went wrong. _Nothing will go wrong._ She chastised herself for the negative thought.

As the city rested for a few more hours before they started their day, a lone mechanic headed out into the woods in search of robots, both dead and alive.

\--

 Coming to a slow stop the woman begins to recognize the area. She steps off of the hovercycle and puts it into park, deciding to leave it there so she can focus on looking for her missing stuff.

It didn’t take long to spot the bag she was looking for, but the girl stopped in her tracks when she noticed that it had been zipped up and placed neatly to the side of the E54 corpse. She knew she had crammed her stuff in the bag and left the zipper open and was sure that when she bolted off the objects had spilled, _so why is it neatly zipped up_?

Crouching down the girl took slow steps making sure to check her surroundings in case this was a trap. As she inched closer, a light pressure was felt at her toes and her eyes bolted down to see what it was. To her relief it was just an apple. Using her thumb and pointer finger she carefully grabbed the stem of the apple and pulled it up to eye level.  
“There’s little holes in it…” she observed.

She gasped as something raced past her head. She stumbled back and crouched down quickly, both hands now gripping the apple to her chest.

A flurry of chirps came from overhead and she looked up.

“No way…” she breathed.

It was the little yellow bird she saw with the E54. It was fluttering in a rapid little circle around her and chirping an enthusiastic tune. She stood up after realizing she had been spooked by a little bird and let out a hearty chuckle.

Craning her neck up, she used her left hand to shield her eyes from the sun so she could look at the little creature better. Her right hand still held the apple, but her grip had softened.

  
“I can’t believe I’m so jumpy that a little bird scared me like that” she exhaled softy.

Looking away from the bird and back to the bag she frowned still wondering who touched her stuff. She muttered under her breath about having to find and kill someone if they had stolen her tools. Strolling to the bag she noticed that it didn’t look empty.

There appeared to be folds and dents that suggested that there was something inside. She hoped to herself that everything would still be there and finally getting the courage she put her hand on the zipper and tugged it open.

She smiled in relief upon seeing all of her tools in one place. Putting her hands on her hips she looked around her still wondering about who put everything back.

Suddenly, she felt pressure on her left shoulder and a chirping sounded in her ear. The mechanic slowly turned her head and her eyes widened at the little yellow bird that rested on her. It was rare for wild animals to approach humans, especially ones as timid as birds. Slowly she brought the red apple in her right hand to her left shoulder, offering it to the bird. She had noticed the little holes, but assumed it may have been worms or other creatures, not this bird. Pecking at the apple the small yellow bird cheeped and the mechanic smiling thinking back to what the omnic monk had said to her.

“Peace will follow me huh” she remembered, shaking her head in disbelief.

Having its fill the little bird lifted itself off the girls shoulder and flew circles around her releasing a flurry of loud, seemingly excited tweets. The bird then stopped and zipped towards the direction of the forest. Eyes following the little bird grew in fear as it landed on a familiar figure peeking out from behind a tree.

The mechanic froze up, breathing stopped. She could feel the tears stinging the corners of her eyes, readying themselves to cascade down her face. Apple falling out of her hand she stood motionless, in fear of what the robot would do.

The E54 cocked its head.

“Zwee?”

“Oh my God” the mechanic whispered. She could feel her strength coming back to her and wiggled her fingers, testing what she could do around the robot. _It hasn’t attacked me yet, I should be dead by now. This is strange. Something is definitely different about this Bastion._

“Um” the mechanic's voice shook, “H-hello.” She slowly lifted her hand, fingers ever so slightly curling and straightening back. It was awkward and stiff but the mechanic wasn’t worried about looking like a socialite.

The Bastion continued to stare at her. It seemed like an eternity. A pair of eyes looking straight into a little blue window. Even the yellow bird had stopped chirping and had perched itself on a nearby branch, head cocked.

“Woo-do-woo-do” the Bastion beeped, picking up its hand and bending its fingers over in what appeared to be a wave, mimicking what the girl had just given to him.

_Did it just…no way…_

Though still frightened the mechanic let out a large breath. She felt the tightening in her chest release. She kept her eye on the Bastion, unsure of what to do. This obviously wasn’t what she was used to seeing from these models.

A bolt shot through her when the Bastion started moving closer to her and she took a step back. It stopped for a second then continued. The gap was already small and every little step it took was just closing distance.

“W-wait, j-just stay right there” she stuttered out raising her hands in front of her, “No need to come any closer.”  
The Bastion did not listen. It continued forward each step thudding on the ground. The mechanic was frozen, she didn’t know what would set off the machine and reaching for something to defend herself could trigger its battle instincts. _But just standing here makes me an open target._

A voice in the back of her head told her that if it wanted it could have killed her by now. Its weapons were suitable for long range. But before she could make up her mind a shadow had towered over her form, blocking out the sun. Quickly squeezing her eyes shut the mechanic prepared herself for whatever pain was coming.

 

But there was nothing of the sort.  
“Beep-beep-beep-beep,” the Bastion softly hummed.

The mechanic reluctantly opened her eyes fearing the worst. In front of her the machine had his hand stretched out. In it, a small flower that he had plucked off of the foliage growing on him. The mechanic looked from the flower to the Bastion. The flower was so small, so delicate. The Bastion was cold, metallic, unfeeling, murderous, a harbinger of death. But then why would it offer her this flower? Why would that bird be with him? Could this machine actually go against its programming and become its own being?

She was pulled out of her thoughts by another set of seemingly encouraging beeps. The Bastion inched its hand forward a bit more. It cocked its head at the girl it looked down upon. The woman gulped and reluctantly met the robots hand. Her fingers grazed its palm as she accepted the small flower. She didn’t realize how much her body temperature had risen until the cool metal raised goosebumps on her arms. Carefully holding the flower the mechanic smiled at the robot. She thanked it, unsure of whether it would understand, but was reassured when a flurry of excited beeps left its system and the yellow bird joined in, having left its branch to fly eager circles around the two.

“So…I guess you’re not going to hurt me” the mechanic smiled looking at the Bastion.

The sun was barely at its peak in the sky and the mechanic pushed her sleeve up checking her watch. It read that it was only 11 am. Her day had taken such an unexpected turn with the new robot at her side that she wasn’t all too sure of what she should do. _It wouldn’t feel right salvaging parts of the fallen E54 units while it was around_. She ran her hands through her hair and then over her face. Hearing the twisting of wires and metal moving, she looked at the Bastion, who had lifted its hand up and put its hand on the top of its head. Metal rubbed together as the robot once again mimicked the mechanic.

At the sight the woman couldn’t help but let out a laugh and plopped down on the ground.

“This is _insane._ Nothing like this has ever happened before,” she started in disbelief, “something has to be causing this. Maybe there’s a dent on its head?” she trailed off thinking to herself.

The Bastion stood standing over her before deciding to follow suit. Leaning its weight back the Bastion let itself fall back on its rear with its legs sticking out and hands rested on its sides. His yellow companion perched on his shoulder. The robot and the mechanic looked at each other. There was no noise aside from the breathing of the woman and the mechanical whirs and hums of the robot. An empty gurgle interrupted the silence between the two and the young woman put her hand on her stomach and nervously laugh.

Slowly taking off her backpack as to not startle the Bastion, the young mechanic unzipped it and dug around. After some searching she found her sandwich and a water bottle. It was a simple peanut butter sandwich, a quick and easy snack to satisfy her needs.

Piquing the curiosity of both the bird and the Bastion, she decided to rip a piece off of the sandwich and handed one to each of them. The bird pecked at the small sandwich seeming to enjoy the snack, while the Bastion just looked at it in his hand. He brought it up to face plate, turning it around but didn’t try to mimic the motions of eating.

Taking a bit out of her sandwich the woman noted that it seemed to have some type of intelligence to realize it could not process the food.   
“I wonder just how long this guy has been up functioning?” she pondered to herself, eyeing the robot play with the food. The robot squished it between its fingers and flattened it, before offering it back to the girl. She looked at the Bastion and shrugged taking the piece of food and plopping it in her mouth. If she died she preferred it being from eating a dirty piece of sandwich from the hand of a Bastion opposed to the bullets it could shred through her body with. 

Having finished its piece of sandwich the little bird fluttered up twittering and headed towards the forest. The Bastion popped up and headed towards the forest, following the bird. Still sitting the mechanic fidgeted with her knuckles pushing in and out of the ground. After a few moments she got up and rushed to the side of the Bastion. The robot let out a small beep and continued its journey making sure the girl was by his side.

\--

Entering the forest the mechanic gasped at its beauty. The tall trees shaded the surrounding, yet rays of light passed through the leaves. Each little ray highlighted a wonder of nature. A tree, a patch of flowers, even the simple moss was breathtaking. The world outside was so different. So modern, technology was everywhere. When the mechanic thought about it she never really comes across nature like this. Every plant she has seen is strategically placed, in the shopping centers, in a lobby of an expensive building. It was just an aesthetic to humanity. But not out here. It was natural, untouched, and pure. A warmth spread through her chest as she took it all in.

In her moment of wonder the mechanic had not noticed that the Bastion had walked away. She was not aware until the robot returned with various different types of foliage in its arms. Despite having a gun for an arm the Bastion didn’t destroy any of the delicate flowers it had uprooted. The Bastion sat down and stared at the mechanic.   
“I suppose you want me to do the same, huh” she chuckled following its action.

The Bastion then began to hand her the different plants one by one. Before handing her a new plant the robot would wait, seemingly giving her time to appreciate it. And she did. Each flower she examined with care. The mechanic felt the leaves, observed the colors, sniffed the petals.

She didn’t know how long they had been sitting there, getting lost in the all the plants the Bastion had brought and his soft melodic beeping, but when she came out of that heaven she instantly felt tears prick her eyes at the sight before her. A bunch of light blue butterflies had gathered in the area. They were everywhere. They even sat peacefully on the Bastion and herself.

Giving into her feelings the mechanic finally let out a sob, tears running down her face. The shaking of her shoulders disturbed the butterflies and they fluttered away landing on the still Bastion. The Bastion sat watching, it cocked its head.   
“I’m sorry,” she shook her head as she wiped away some tears before sarcastically laughing, “I’m just so stressed and I think I might go out of busine…wait, I don’t even know if you understand what I’m saying. I shouldn't even be crying, God this is so embarrassing. Do you even understand the concept of sadness?”

If only she knew a few days prior to their meeting the Bastion felt a sadness that no one believed a war machine could experience. When the Bastion’s combat programming took over, destroyed the surrounding area and thought it had killed its bird friend it felt it had no purpose but to follow the plans its internal system was relying to it.

The Bastion got up and walked over to the still crying mechanic. It sat down next to her. The gesture was kind and unexpected. The mechanic put her hand on the machine’s hand, throwing out the notion that the Bastion didn’t understand and sat there in a silent comradery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. The woo-doo part from Bastion is supposed to be the "Hello" noise he makes from in game, but since there isn't a official script of it I kinda had to sound it out...i'm so sorry


	4. Chapter 4

Darkness soon poured into the familiar soft surrounding of the forest. The plants from the Bastion rested next to the woman’s head. As she lifted herself up she heard enthusiastic beeping from across her. Facing the sound she saw the Bastion sitting across from her.

The sudden realization hit her like a brick.

She had just fallen asleep in the woods with a robot generally considered to be deadly. At first anger rose through her but before it could take over it dissipated and completely fizzled away. _I’m still alive and safe aren’t I?_   Glancing at her watched she checked the time. 6:30 pm. She stared at the watch then set her arm down and sighed. Suddenly she ripped her arm back up to her face and read the time again. 

“IT’S 6:30 PM” she screeched.

She got up and picked up the flowers the Bastion had brought her. Collecting herself and making sure she didn’t leave anything behind she rushed to leave the forest. Turning to the Bastion she hesitated, what was she to do with it?

“Um…” she started slowly, thinking “I’ll be back…tomorrow, I guess.”  
The robot once again cocked its head then let out a single beep. It was neither sad nor happy. In fact, it almost sounded like a confirmation.

Uttering a string of cuss words under her breath the mechanic ran to exit the forest before it got dark. Thankfully the Bastion’s heavy footsteps had left a trail for her to follow back out of the forest and to their meeting spot. Making sure to grab her duffel bag this time the mechanic rushed off to her hovercycle just a short distance ahead.

The sun was getting closer to setting and the woman tried to quicken her pace. She hadn’t prepared to stay out so late. _You also didn’t expect to fall asleep in the forest like some kind of fairytale princess_. She snorted at her own thought.

Finally making it to the hovercycle the mechanic put her duffel bag in the side compartment she had added on and zoomed off.

\--   

After a 30 minute drive the woman could finally see the front of the city. Too tired to go around to avoid attention she decided to just go through the city normally. She hoped that just maybe it would seem normal to anyone she knew.

Reaching her little garage the mechanic took off her helmet and set it on the cycle and guided it into the structure. She dreaded the walk to her home. It was only a block away, but with the backpack and the duffel bag she was weighed down and each step took extra effort.

Trudging along the mechanic stopped to take a breath, setting her bags down, she sat on the curb and drank from one of her water bottles.

“My friend!” an enthusiastic voice boomed from across the path.

A large older man rushed up to the mechanic and pulled her up in a tight hug.

“Oh,” she gasped, “It’s nice to see you too, but…you’re…crushing…me.”

 The voice laughed jollily and set her down. The size difference between the older man and the young mechanic was comical. He stood tall, proud, and strong like a tree. She was short and was constantly trying to maintain a low profile.

“Hello,” the voice practically shook the small homes in the area “I am glad to have run into you. It has been so long, no?”  
“No…not really,” she laughed “but it’s nice to see you back. Are you staying or traveling back out?”  
“I must head back out. It is almost Christmas and I am going to meet an old friend. You would like him, you both are smart engineers,” the man beamed.  
“I’m not really an engineer,” the girl said shifting her bag to the other shoulder, “I just fix things. I don’t have the talent to build things.”

“Bah! Such nonsense. You have talent, use it” he huffed, “And what are your plans for this holiday?”

“Nothing really” she gave him a small smile. She was a little sad that she would be spending the holiday alone again, but she didn’t want to worry the man.

“Nothing? You must come with me then.”

The girl smiled at his request, “I appreciate the offer, but I have…certain _things_ I have to take care of here.” She thought of the Bastion in the forest. She almost felt an obligation to not only make sure it was okay, but to make sure it didn’t ever go into combat mode and attack the city.

“Whatever you do, be careful,” his voice softening, “do not get yourself into too much trouble.”  
The girl cocked an eyebrow at him.

“You are never out this late and covered in dirt no less, my friend. But do not worry I will not pry” he winked.

“You caught me,” the mechanic smiled and put her hands up in mock defeat, “but I really need to go. I am exhausted.”

The man boomed a farewell to the girl and she continued on her path. Before she could get too far, she once again heard his voice.  
“I almost forgot. I have a favor to ask of you. Could you fix something for me? It’s too large for you to carry. Can you leave your truck parked out and I will put it in the bed?”

“No problem. But how will I know what to look for?” she prodded hoping he would tell her what it was.  
“You shall see and know immediately” the man responded with mischief in his voice.

“Ah, well goodnight then” she giggled and walked off.

\--

Finally reaching her home the girl plopped down on her bed.

_What a day this has been._

The girl smiled to herself. Even though the events were unexpected, unusual and just a little frightening, it was also one of the best days of her life.

“Maybe hanging around with the Bastion won’t be such a bad idea after all” she said out loud to no one in particular.

The mechanic laid on her bed for a few minutes before dragging herself off of her bed and into the shower. After nearly an hour and almost falling asleep she got out and changed into pajamas. Feeling a bit refreshed she carefully grabbed the flowers the Bastion gave her and put them into a large water filled vase. Satisfied with the crude arrangement she set the vase on a small coffee table in the middle of the tiny living room. Finally feeling complete with everything the mechanic finally made her way to her bed and quickly drifted off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Rays of sun peeked through the holes in the curtains, speckling the room with little specs of light. Throwing her arm over her eyes, after one particular nasty beam landed right on her eye, the mechanic groaned. She was already disturbed there was no going back to sleep.

 

“Damn sun” she groaned groggily and rolled over hoping to escape the beams.

 

“Wait?! Sunlight?! Shit!”

 

She jolted upright, looking around frantically. Jumping out of bed and throwing open the curtains she looked for the sun. Almost in the middle of the sky she scrambled for her phone to check the time. Reading half past eleven she ran around the room looking for clothes to wear.   
“Shit I am so late” she dragged her hands through her hair.

 

_What if I lose the Bastion all because I overslept like a lazy fuck?_

 

Groaning as she pulled a knit sweater over her head she suddenly stopped.

 

“Wait. Why do I care what happens to that dang robot?”

 

She put her hand on her hip coming to a full stop. When it came down to it the robot was just nuts, bolts, wires, and ammunition. Right?

 _But nuts and bolts don’t care about flowers or living_ creatures…she sighed... _and it’s the closest thing I’ve had to a friend in a long time._ She knew it was the truth. Most people came and went for repairs and the few she had established relationships with were either back home in America or constantly travelling doing who knows what.

Pulling herself out of her negativity she continued to rush getting dressed and threw on a pair of overalls, a scarf, and boots. Despite the sun she knew it was cold from the frost she saw on the window. Grabbing the duffel bag and a thick cardigan she ran out the door.

Blinking off the sun a few times the woman’s eye suddenly snapped open and her jaw dropped when she saw what her friend had left her to repair. In the bed of her truck was a large, blue shield. It was cracked and the emblem in the middle was severely scrapped but it didn’t matter. Despite the damage it was a great honor to be asked to fix the shield. She knew his traveling partner usually did the repairs on all of his armor and supplies, so she was a little surprised he left it behind but was too excited to really linger on the topic. Taped next to it was a note.

_I may have been too hard on this old thing. I trust you can fix it for me, yes?_

_  
It is a lot of work but as a gift you may use it for whatever you get yourself into. If you_

 

_change your mind, I shall be in Sweden for the holiday._

_-R.W._

 

“Holy shit. This is so cool” she squealed clutching the note.  


Shoving the note in her pocket she picked up her stuff, threw it in the back with the shield, and ran around to the driver’s side of the car and got in. Not forgetting that she was late meeting the robot she hurried and put the truck into her own garage. Double locking it and triple checking those locks she finally headed off to her other rented garage to get her hovercycle.

The drive to the forest was peaceful and undisturbed. The wind whipped past the mechanics head and the cold air was enough to make her face dry and her lips cracked and sore. She desperately wanted to stop, but she was already running late and the fear of losing the unique robot subconsciously had her stepping on the gas.

\--

After what felt like an eternity the woman practically jumped off of the cycle and ran into the forest. The Bastion had not been out where they first met and she didn’t spot it peeking out from behind a tree either. Continuing into the forest she surveyed the ground for any footprints that may have resembled the robots. Not spotting them immediately she felt a wave of cool disappointment surge through her body. _That’s it. I’ve lost the damn robot. I’ve lost any chance of learning more about it. I’ve lost…my friend._ The last thought hurt her more than she realized it would. They had only spent a day together, yet she felt something that she didn’t feel with many people and she didn’t want to let that get away from her like it had in the past.

 

“Where did you go” she whispered eyes downcast.

 

Feeling tears prickle the corner of her eyes she clenched them shut and balled her fists. She whispered to herself not to cry over and over again as if she was possessed. Standing there for a minute the mechanic collected herself and steadied her breathing. She had an idea and while a large part of her felt it was idiotic, a small but much louder part of her said to try it anyway.

Setting her bag down and taking a deep breath the mechanic puckered her lips and began to whistle. The whistling was syncopated and varied in pitches. Shifting awkwardly and whistling for another minute the woman finally stopped. She hoped that maybe she had mimicked the noises she heard from both the robot and the little bird well enough to quite possibly catch their attention if they were around. So she waited. A minute passed and she heard nothing. She turned to another direction and whistled for a bit, waiting again after for something. But nothing came. Turn another direction she repeated the process. Once more turning she tried again, but still nothing came.

 _Alright, don’t give up. Maybe I just need to travel a bit more into the forest and keep doing this._ She let out a breath of air still feeling that her effort was both ridiculous and pathetic. Picking up her duffel bag she choose a random direction and began whistling again. The mechanic whistled and walked, occasionally stopping to breathe or drink water. Still nothing appeared. Yet she continued hoping that just maybe the Bastion would step into her field of vision. As time went on her hope diminished and she started to whistle frantically. She whistled and whistled, getting louder as her frustration grew until the noise rose sharply then stopped.

“That’s it. I can’t do this anymore.” She had had enough. Throwing down her bag by a tree she sunk down to the ground, using the tree as support for her back. Deciding to check the time she pulled out her phone and read the screen. 2:22 PM. Dropping her head back the mechanic felt a tingling heat spread through her throat and chest. _This isn’t fair. Anytime I have something going for me in life I always find a way to mess it up._

_\--_

In the distance a quick flapping of wings made its way to the location of a unfamiliar, strange sound.


	6. Chapter 6

Still sitting against the tree the mechanic stared emptily ahead with swollen, red eyes. Every inch of self-doubt, every insecurity, every agonizing moment of self-hate had clawed and rooted its way to the front of the woman’s mind. The woman pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her head on them with her face to the ground. She didn’t want to head back to the city, but she also didn’t want to stay in the forest alone. Both places were currently reminders of failures in her life. One held a failing shop, the other a reminder of a lost friendship.

To try and distract herself from her current situation the girl lifted her head off of her knees and checked her watch.

3:42 p.m.

Resting her chin on her knees the mechanic once again faced forward, eyes closed. She wanted to get up and return home but couldn’t find the motivation. The entire city was preparing for the winter celebrations that were coming in a week and the streets were bustling with people.

“This is so pathetic,” she moaned out loud tugging her hand through her hair. Her self-loathing and sorrow was slowly turning into a cold anger.

She lifted her chin off of her knee and lightly kicked at the dirt around her. The dirt landed in front of her on top of a small orange bump.

“What the-”  
“Boo doo boo doo do”

Head snapping up in disbelief she came eye to diode with a familiar form. Jumping up she let out a shout. “Oh my gosh! It’s you!”

The robot waved at her.

Without thinking she grabbed the robot’s hand with hers and let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes. Every negative emotion she had been beating herself up over had dissipated. Her friend was back and in comparison all the other problems were miniscule.

“Where have you been? I was so worried…” the girl rambled on and on about her different concerns and worries. Finishing her rant the mechanic opened her eyes to look at the Bastion.

Noticing the robot wasn’t looking at her she followed its trail of vision down to her hand.

She gasped finally noticing that she still had the robot’s hand clasped in-between both of her hands. Hissing she yanked her hands down to her sides and looked to the side. The mechanic took a small step away from the robot hoping to put a little bit of distance between the two after the awkward action. She took a risk and decided to glance up at the robot to gauge its reaction. The Bastion was still looking at its hand, turning it over a few times. She felt herself cringe while watching the Bastion.

After what felt like an eternity the robot finally looked back up to her. The Bastion’s diode was an emotionless window, not giving any sign of feelings. Lifting up its regular hand the robot reached for the girl and she felt herself slightly panic. Taking a step back she mentally braced herself for anything. Or almost anything.

She wasn’t ready for the Bastion picking her hand back up and holding it between the two of them. It was awkward and obvious that the robot didn’t fully understand how to properly copy the motion. It examined their joined hands, turning them over slowly. The woman felt heat rush to her cheeks and wished for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. She picked up her free hand and dragged it down her face in exasperation. It was a cute gesture but she couldn’t get over the embarrassment of the action and it certainly didn’t help that the robot was now staring straight at her.

“Um…” the mechanic was trying to think of what to do. She didn’t know if it was possible to offend an E54, which she certainly didn’t want to do, but it was still holding her hand and it was more than she could really handle.   
“Hey buddy,” she started hesitantly, “Can you maybe please put my hand down?” She gestured to both her hand and the floor as she asked.

The robot followed her free hand yet immediately returned its little window back to their joined hands. Letting out a melody of high pitched beeps the robot cocked its head and finally released the mechanics hand.  

Letting out an uncomfortable laugh the woman quickly looked at her hand as if to see if something had happened to it. Nothing about it was any different. _In fact, it’s almost like holding any other humans hand._ She contemplated the thought as her and the robot still stood facing each other.

The mechanic flexed her hand one more time before letting it drop back to her side. Averting her attention back to the Bastion she grinned and received a few beeps in return. 

\--

It was almost 12 am when the mechanic returned home. To make up for lost time she spent as much time wandering with the Bastion and their little bird friend, who eventually made a reappearance, as she could.

The time they spent together set a fire within the mechanic. While she was still upset that her shop was losing business and was about to go under, she also came to the conclusion that she didn’t have to wait for the failure to come crashing in. She decided to reconsider what she had told her large friend.   

“Maybe I don’t have to be _just_ a mechanic” she smirked to herself as she dragged out boxes of wires, scraps and glass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be honest when I say I have no idea what I am doing right now. I have the ending all figured out (for the most part) but the middle is a struggle lol. Concrit is still highly welcome and thank you for the kudos and comments. It really does mean a lot.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a bit short, but please bare with me. This is going somewhere I promise.

“Nope. This is impossible. I give up,” the mechanic stated in a manner of fact tone before pushing everything on the table to the side. She laid her head on the empty space in resignation. Trying to build something from scratch was not easy, she knew that from experience, but she definitely underestimated just how hard this would actually be. In her university days she had been used to these things, but even then she had really only been sufficient with following blue prints opposed to making things by themselves. And that had been 3 years ago, so she was already rusty.

Genuinely wanting to give up and go to bed the mechanic looked at her phone to check the time.

2:46 am.

Groaning she pushed her chair away from the table and dragged herself onto the bed. It had been a long day and she needed some rest so oversleeping didn’t become a reoccurring issue.

While her body thanked her for finally laying down and relaxing, she couldn’t fall into the slumber she so desperately hoped for. Opting to roll over and readjust herself a few times the mechanic hoped that it was just her positioning that was keeping her up.

After laying in the new position for a few minutes the mechanic turned onto her stomach. She rested her cheek on the pillow and stared straight into the dimly lit room. It obviously wasn’t her positioning that was keeping her awake. In fact, she couldn’t stop thinking about what she had just started. No matter how hard she tried to ignore the thought it always found a way to the front of her mind.

 _Ugh. This is just like the location device project all over again_.

Gasping she leaped out of bed and stumbled around in the darkness frantically searching for her light switch. Cutting the lights on, she headed straight for her closet. She mentally thanked herself for keeping all of her work stashed away. When she had graduated she thought it would be pointless and would take up too much room, but now she couldn’t be any happier with the decision. Opening the closet doors she crouched down and threw everything out of her way. Shoes and fallen sweaters were sent haphazardly across the room, looking for the box she kept everything in. A pile of clothing grew behind her as she progressed her search. _Geez, I really need to organize this. It’s a mess in here._

After a few minutes of rummaging and “cleaning” out half of the closet floor contents she finally spotted the large and slightly beaten up box. Grabbing it, she dragged it in front of her. There weren’t that many objects in it; she only kept the inventions that were the biggest challenges for her. 

“Aha! There you are you little shit” she laughed pulling out two pieces of machinery. One was a small tablet-like screen, the other a round fist sized device with metal prongs sticking out of it. Choosing to ignore the mess she headed straight back to the table she had been working at previously and set everything down in the area she had cleared off earlier.

“So I have to make the locator smaller and rewire the home pad to be a tracker instead of just a locator,” she let out a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second. “Alright, I can do this.”

And with that she got to work unscrewing and taking apart the device.


	8. Chapter 8

**BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.**

Jolting awake the mechanic looked for the source of the noise next to her head that startled her awake. Setting her eyes on her phone and seeing the alarm screen she realized it was just her phone. _I must have set this last night so I would wake up on time._ Rubbing her eyes she slowly began to mentally prepare herself for starting her day. She dragged her finger over the screen to cut the startling alarm off and lifted her head off of the table. Feeling a sharp pain run through her neck her hand rushed to the source of the pain and she hissed.

“It was either the time I spent bent over my work or me resting my head on the table,” she guessed, “Either way I have to get out there to the Bastion.”

She slowly got up, hoping it wouldn’t hurt her neck too much. Proceeding to be careful she picked up some random clothes from the floor, which had been thrown from the closet, and set it on the bed to wear for the day. Unfortunately for her it seemed like no matter how slowly she turned her head it hurt either way.

Hoping a warm shower would help she made her way to the bathroom and shower. Setting the water to as hot as her skin could handle she peeled off her clothes and got in. Letting the water run over her head she let out a breath. It wasn’t completely removing the pain in her neck, but it provided some ease and that was good enough for her. The water felt so nice she wished she could spend the rest of her day in there.

\--

After another 10 minutes in the shower the mechanic eventually came out feeling slightly better than she did before getting in. Wrapping a towel around her head and body the woman headed back to her room and began getting dressed and ready for the day.

 

When she was done getting dressed she decided to lightly clean the room. She folded the remaining clothes that were on the floor and put them on her bed and threw the shoes back into the closet.

“That should do it I guess.”

She gathered up the usual items she took to visit the Bastion and headed out the door. She had considered bringing the soon to be tracking device with her, but decided against it. It wasn’t done and she needed a break from working on it. While she had been able to downsize the locater to a much smaller size, she had not been able to change it to a working tracker. The easiest part was done, she had no worries about changing the size. It was the changing the function part that worried her most.

Leaving her current concerns behind her the mechanic walked out of her house and out in the cool air. A shiver rattled her body and she decided that she would take her truck for the day and make use of its heater. Taking her truck also gave her the opportunity to work on fixing her friend’s shield. It was by far a much simpler task than what she was doing at home and she could work in peace when she was with the Bastion.

It was still quiet outside, the only people that outside were ones that worked and they were either too busy getting ready to leave themselves or taking the last few minutes to relax before having a long day doing their jobs.

Having her own long day ahead the mechanic got into her truck. She had left it in her driveway because Stuttgart was relatively safe, and because no one would have been able to get the shield out of her truck bed and drag it out of town without getting caught.

Before she could put the car into drive, a hand suddenly knocked on her window. Letting out a scream she swung her head to see who had startled her. She felt a pain shoot through her next but was too startled to react to it.

“There’s my little mechanic” came a smug voice.

“What’s wrong with you? You scared the daylights out of me, Frederich” she smacked at the window before rolling it down halfway.

“You’ve been gone an awful lot lately, why is that?”

“Oh my God, go away. That is absolutely none of your business,” she gawked at him.

“I have a right to be concerned. The world is dangerous and who knows what omnics are out there looking for an innocent human to harm.” His voice got low and cold as he finished his statement. But it didn’t last long. He smirked and rested his hand on the half open window.

“So how about you let me spend the day with you?” he winked at her.

“No. Now get away from my car I have somewhere to be and I’m late,” patience running short she put the car in drive, but left her foot on the brake.

“Late to what,” he narrowed his eyes, “what could _you_ possibly be going to do?” He put heavy emphasis on the “you” part of his statement. He knew that she kept to herself and that the closest person she could call a friend was the large, older man who was long gone from Stuttgart which left her with few things to do. It could also be a direct jab at how her shop wasn’t as busy as it used to be.

 “You know what? You really need to leave me alone. Step away from my car” she demanded a little hurt over his question.

Taking her foot off the brake a little she let the car roll forward letting him know she wasn’t kidding. Frederich backed up without saying a word and let her drive off. He kept his eyes locked on the truck until it was finally out of sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I'm so sorry this took so long. I went on a family road trip and was the driver so I've been trying to get my energy back from that, but I would like to establish some kind of schedule for posting. Maybe once a week? I don't know lol but once again thanks for the comments and kudos!!


	9. Chapter 9

The drive to the forest was nothing special. The mechanic got there and decided to try and back the truck between the trees. She was hoping the truck could make it into the woods so that when she decided to work on the shield and chat with the Bastion they wouldn’t be out in the open. It’s not like it really mattered if they were or not, no one came to woods anymore, but she was just being extra careful.

Unfortunately for her the truck didn’t get too far in before she had to put it in park and cut the engine off. There was too many other trees she would have to maneuver around and if there was an emergency there would be no guarantee she could escape quickly. She genuinely wasn’t worried anything bad would happen, but she was also a “better safe than sorry” type of person.

She didn’t want to waste any time so she hurriedly walked into the forest looking for the Bastion. Recently it had been going deeper and deeper into the forest and it was taking longer for it to make its way to where she was. Somehow it always ended up finding exactly where she was, which was never too far from the area they first spent time together. Because of this she assumed that maybe some of its innate functions had still worked, and that the omnic had more control over them than it did in the first omnic crisis. Fortunately for her the omnic was just a few hundred feet away from her car so she didn’t have to worry about having to find it.

It greeted her with its usual beeps and its unique little wave which she returned with a smile and her own wave. The mechanic pointed in the direction of the where the truck was and turned around, hoping the omnic would follow her. It seemed to understand as it let out a singular beep and she heard its heavy footsteps approaching her. The mechanic waited until the omnic caught up to her before making her way back to the truck. Their little bird friend followed them in the air and eventually flapped ahead of them and perched on the top of the barrier of the bed on the truck.

The woman stared at the bird for a second. While this Bastion’s very existence went against everything told to her, truth be told, she was much more bewildered by the bird. It was obviously wild, yet was receptive to the machine and even her, though it was to a lesser extent.

She decided not to dwell on the topic for too long. While it was an odd situation, it was also incredibly pleasant and she didn’t mind if she spent most of her time with the two as her company.

Jumping into the bed of the truck the mechanic began to drag the heavy shield to the edge. This was the first time she was up close and personal with the shield and she could feel the excitement bubbling. She was a little surprised to see that it was actually wasn’t its own piece and that is was actually connected to the gauntlet the crusaders wore.

“Man, the crusaders were so cool” she sighed dreamily as she stared off into the forest for a minute. She was also trying to catch her breath. Just the few inches she had dragged the shield was enough to make her want to lay down and take a nap. _No wonder all the crusaders were huge. This small part is heavy I can’t even imagine having to deal with the rest of the armor._

Gaining a bit of energy back the mechanic decided to go behind the shield and push it instead of dragging it from the front. When it was finally where the mechanic wanted it she hopped out of the bed and headed to the passenger side for her tools. She opened the already unlocked doors, grabbed the bag up and slung the strap over her shoulder. The weight of the bag dragged her shoulder down a bit and she winced from the small pain that shot through her neck. Earlier the pain had faded to a dull sensation and was almost non-existent, but all the hard work just undid everything the shower and calm drive had soothed.

She quickly pushed the bag off her shoulder and reached up to rub her neck. Not wanting to lose her motivation, she cut her self-care short and picked up the strap of her bag and dragged it as she headed back to the bed of the truck. She groaned and cursed herself for being so excited to work on this project that she neglected her own body.

She abruptly stopped at the sight in front of her. The Bastion had transformed into sentry mode and was facing the bed of the truck. The mechanic gasped and her eyes began to sting. She searched her mind for ideas of what to do, but there was only white noise. She felt like time had slowed down as the Bastion turned its sentry barrel in her direction.

“Please. No” she whispered. There was sweat beading on her forehead and tears slowly slipping out of her eyes. She clenched her fists and she could feel her nails digging into her skin. It should have hurt, but the fear drumming in her was too strong and she shut her eyes and looked to the side in defeat. Her breathing became shallow and ragged and her body was stiff. At any moment she expected her life to end. Yet nothing came.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked back to the E54. It was still in sentry mode, but had not moved or even fired a single bullet.          

“It’s me. Remember,” she questioned softly, cautiously as she slowly unclenched her fists. She didn’t know what she was doing. Her voice had just come out before her brain could do anything else. “You don’t have to be a gun. You are what you choose to be. _You choose_.”  

They both stood there facing each other for what felt like an eternity. The E54 in sentry mode, its most destructive form. The mechanic with tears rolling down her sweat covered face slowly closed her eyes again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a very blatant Iron Giant quote in this chapter. 1. Because I love that movie with my whole heart and 2. The Overwatch team actually seems to parallel Bastion and the Giant.  
> I'm also very sorry for the cliff hanger and /another/ short chapter. ;-;


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg. i'm so so sorry this took so long to update. i know i literally put in my last author's note that i wanted to update on a schedule but I kind of lost motivation to write and then when it came back i just kept procrastinating. but here's the new chapter. I will definitely, 100%, honestly will update again no later than Friday (7/28). also how to write action???????

She couldn’t bear to stare at the omnic any longer. It made her nauseous and she felt a hollow pain in her chest. This was supposed to be her friend. They had spent time together and never had anything like this ever happened. She had hope in this being and yet here it was gun pointed at her. She so desperately wanted to hate what was in front of her, yet their good moments continued to fill her mind and tell her that this was all a bad dream and to wake up.

_Please be a bad dream. Please._

_Please let me wake up._

_Wake up._

_Please._

There was a metallic whir and the mechanics thoughts sped up. It was dizzying and she felt she would pass out at any second. Daring to open her eyes one final time she looked at the omnic again. Her brows knit in confusion and fear. While it was still in sentry mode, its head was peeking over the gun with a blue diode.

“W-W-Wooooo…?”  
The woman let out a shuddered breath and dropped to her knees. She watched the Bastion slowly shift back into its regular form and then as it frantically looked at its own hand and gun then back at her. She got off the ground and walked to the Bastion with her hand up.  
“It’s okay, it’s okay” she began to try and soothe the startled omnic as she approached it. The omnic took a few steps towards her as well. Suddenly two loud shots rang out and the mechanic screamed, ran to back of the truck by the Bastion and threw herself on the ground for cover. She looked to the Bastion and saw its hand was shattered and there was a hole in the right side of its chest armor. Sparks were flying out of the broken part still remaining on its hand and the omnic’s wiring could be seen from the hole. The Bastion’s head jerked around looking for what happened. Her eyes went wide and she pulled at the Bastion trying to get it behind cover. It didn’t budge and continued to look around. The Bastion was beeping out of control and were so high in pitch the mechanic had to fight the reflex to cover her ears. Another shot rang out, but this time it missed and lodged itself in a tree behind the Bastion. The second shot had scared the Bastion and it had finally run to the other side of the woman.

It looked at her and while its diode still showed no emotion, the noises it was letting out were enough to prove just how scared the machine was. The woman returned a look of horror and put her hand on the omnics shoulder area. Taking a deep breath she peeked around the truck to see what was shooting at them. She felt a shiver run down her spine when she saw the familiar form of Frederich.

He shouted the mechanic’s name and her eyes narrowed. _Why is he out here? Did he…no…he followed me?_  Every frown and shadow cast on his face melted away and turned into a soft, urgent concern. He had spotted her peeking and immediately lowered his gun.

“Are you alright,” he began to make his way towards her “I’m glad I made it here in time. You could have been hurt or worse…” he trailed off and cussed lowly.

“What are you doing here?” The mechanic coldly asked as she stepped out from behind the truck and stood in front of the man.

“W-what?” Frederich was taken aback, “Don’t be ridiculous right now. You were about to be _killed_.” His voice was raising. He couldn’t believe that after what just happened that was her first question to him.

“I wasn’t-“

He cut her off and rushed to where she was. He pulled her by her elbow and away from the truck, gun pointed around the corner. The Bastion’s beeps intensified when it saw the gun.

“What were you doing with this thing? Were you trying to get yourself killed? Do you know what this monster is?” Frederich’s voice raised with each question.

“I do and it’s not a monster” the mechanic spat back yanking her arm away from Frederich. His grip only tightened. His eyes narrowed and brows deepened.

“It is” he yelled at her. The mechanic shrunk back trying to get any inch of distance away from him as she could. Never had she heard him yell before. No matter how insufferable he was being, he never raised his voice once. A tear rolled down the mechanic’s face and Frederich softened instantly. He was always aware at how much larger he was than her and tried to keep a peaceful, non-threatening demeanor. He wasn’t as big as the loud, older man she frequented as company, but was definitely big in his own right.

“I’m sor-“

Before he could finish the statement she ripped her arm from his grip, using his moment of concern against him, and stood in front of the Bastion. He lowered the gun again.

“What are you doing?”  
“I can’t let you hurt this Bastion? It…It’s my friend” she glanced back at the omnic standing behind her. Truthfully, she didn’t have any clue as to what she was doing or what she was going to do to try and keep the Bastion from getting hurt.

“Friend? Those things aren’t friends. They’re killers. Murderers.” His voice was cracking and the mechanic wasn’t sure if it was because he was going to cry or from his rage. “They killed my family. My parents died fighting these machines so we could live peacefully. But you’re here doing who knows what with this pile of junk calling it a friend? It’s wrong.”

\--

There was a strong rapping on the small door of the countryside house. A thin older lady with short brown and gray peppered hair answered the door with a kind smile. Her smile fell a little when she saw the two men from the military, but she welcomed them in anyway after confirming they were at the right house. She asked them to sit down in the living room with her grandson while she went to get her husband.

The men moved to the other room and spotted the boy, who was sitting in a chair in the room reading a children’s book out loud to himself. He used silly voices for the different characters and the men couldn’t help but let a small ghost of a smile grace their lips at his innocence. The boy was about 7 years in age and had messy brown hair and light brown eyes. The men sat on a couch perpendicular to the boy and waited for the older woman to return.   

When the woman returned a man a little older in age than herself followed. He was tall with his blonde hair in a traditional and neat side part. Both of them took a seat across from the men. The woman had offered them drinks, but they declined on the account that they had many other houses to visit.

“We’re deeply sorry to inform you that both your daughter and step-son died while protecting Stuttgart. They’re bodies were found and confirmed. You will be receiving a letter in the mail in the next few days that will tell you where you can pick up the body and arrange the funeral,” the man informed them in a serious tone.  
It was almost cruel how easily it came out of his mouth.

“Mom and Dad aren’t coming back,” the young boy asked face turning red from trying to hold in tears. The older man and woman wished he didn’t have to hear the news, but they knew they couldn’t lie to him. Neither of them cried though, they just sat there with their hands tightly locked as the boy cried, with his head resting in his grandmother’s lap. She brushed a hand through his hair as her as she silently asked the God she believed in why it had to be them. The two men quietly saw themselves out. 

   

\--

He had gained control of his voice again and was neither shouting nor cracking in the middle of speaking. The mechanic felt a cold sweat form on her face and her heart began to pound.

“Bastion. Run,” she commanded the robot desperately hoping it would understand what she was saying. She felt a wave of relief when the omnic began to hurriedly move away from the two of them. Making sure Frederich couldn’t take a shot she moved wherever the bastion did, knowing full well he wouldn’t shoot through or past her to get the omnic.

“What have you done?” Frederich’s voice no longer held any kindness or worry for the mechanic. She was vulnerable now that the Bastion was gone. As far as Frederich was concerned the omnic was unpredictable and could kill both of them in the blink of an eye for a wrong move.

Mustering up as much courage as she could she asked him, “Where did you find that gun?”

He lowered it completely and glared at her.

“It was outside this forest on the ground. Is this where you’ve been coming and going from recently? You chose omnic trash over your fellow humans.”

The mechanic returned a cold stare at the man. She opened her mouth to respond but before words came out the man rushed past her and in the direction the Bastion went. Thinking as quickly as she could the mechanic grabbed his free arm and planted her feet on the ground. She didn’t expect it do anything besides slow him down for a quick second. Instead he used his strength against her and tossed her forward. The mechanic was caught off guard and roughly fell to her knees. Frederich continued sprinting into the forest. _I can’t let him get away. I can’t._

Ignoring the pain in her knee the mechanic got up and followed him. She suddenly heard shouting and another sound she couldn’t quite make out.

The mechanic could barely tell what was going on when she caught up to Frederich, who was now stopped and swatting at the air. She was lucky that he had not made it too far away. That’s when she saw a flash of yellow fly at him and let out something akin to a squawk.

At first she wasn't sure what was going on, but finally focusing in on the blur she realized it was the Bastion's bird friend. Her mind rattled trying to quickly think of a plan to get the gun away from the man.

Not sure if her plan would work she desperately rushed over to Frederich and kicked him in the back of the knee. It wasn’t a trained or particularly strong kick, but it was in the right spot and sent him to his knees. He couldn’t handle both the bird and her so she was able to use a forceful snatch and get the gun away from him.

He felt the gun leave his possession and tried to reach out for it, but the mechanic had already started to sprint her way back to her truck.

“You’re sheltering a dangerous omnic. I won’t let you get away with that blood shedding machine,” He snarled at her and took a particularly close swat at the bird. The bird flew away in fright and Frederich was racing to catch up to her.

 _Fuck, he’s going to tell the entire city. I have to beat him there._ Picking up the pace the mechanic rushed to get to her truck. She didn’t know how Frederich had made it to the forest, but she was sure it wasn’t on foot. Luckily for her, her truck was parked close by, which gave her an advantage over him. Choosing not to waste any time she threw all of her items into the bed of the trunk, pushed the shield back as far as she could in one shove and closed the small gate on the back of the bed. Bringing the keys out of pocket she hopped into the driver’s seat, started the truck and drove out of the forest, scrapping the truck in her frenzy.

Upon making it out of the forest she spotted a hovercycle about a hundred feet away from the entrance of forest. She stepped on the gas and hoped her next plan would work. Closing one eye she shied away as the left side of the truck made contact with the bike. The bike crumped upon impact. She mentally cheered that the bike was totaled and that the truck managed to handle the collision. She figured that it would take Frederich about an hour and a half, maybe two hours to reach the city by foot. It wasn't much to work with for the moment it was enough. Stomping down on the gas pedal the mechanic once again took off towards the city.

As she sped to the city she made a mental checklist of everything she would need to leave the city with.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for being a week late. i have no excuse orz

“Fuck.”

The mechanic balled her fists in her hair as she paced through her room. She had a little over an hour to gather as much as her stuff as she could and she needed to start immediately, but the severity of everything happening was starting to come down on her. Her body was sore, heart still racing, and mind in a frenzy.

“Okay… clothes, official documents, money. Lots of money.” The mechanic listed off the most important things she would need to take as she made her way to her closet.

For the first time in her entire life the mechanic thanked herself for not completely straightening up her mess. Laying haphazardly in the back of her closet were four large black suitcases. She snatched three of them up and began to snatch up as much clothing as she could. The girl almost laughed at the irony of half of her clothing already being on the bed. It was almost like she subconsciously knew that she would have to be ready to leave at any minute.

Two of the suitcases were filled with clothing and other personal hygiene belongings. The first suitcase mainly held thick winter clothing to keep her warm for the cold holiday season, while the other contained a diverse range of clothing suitable for any kind of weather or situation and as many shoes as she could manage to cram in. Both of the suitcases were just a little overstuffed, but the mechanic wanted to make sure to take as much as she could because she didn’t know if she would ever be able to retrieve anything that was left behind. She also slung on a medium satchel to keep important things like a few snacks, passport, identification cards and wallet close to her.

She ran the two suitcases to the trunk and left them in the backseat. She glanced at her watch and noted she had a little less than 40 minutes to finish up. Hurrying back into her house the mechanic began to fill the third suitcase with any spare parts she had. She remembered that the Bastion had been hit by at least two of Frederich’s shots and tried to grab anything that could possibly fix the omnic. Along with the last suitcase she also decided to take her five toolboxes with her. They were too valuable to leave behind. Trying to replace them would cost more than trying to replace almost anything else in her possession.

 Finally having gathered up everything the mechanic dragged the five toolboxes and the third suitcase to the truck. It took a lot of work and the help of a guy passing by, but she finally got everything into the truck.  
Glancing again at her watch she estimated 20 minutes left. She ran into the back of the house for a last minute check. Looking around she began to feel a knot in her stomach. She was really leaving all of this behind without letting anyone know. Sure, she hadn’t established many connections, but it still hurt her knowing she could disappear and hardly anyone would care or notice. She could easily contact her large older friend easily, in fact she was hoping she could catch up to him on her trip, but the only other person that would have any kind of idea what happened probably hates her by now.

Suddenly, something on the table caught her eye and yanked her out of her thoughts. Sitting there was the location device and the holopad. The mechanic hurried over to it and snatched it up and threw it in the satchel she was wearing.     
  
"Thank God I decided to double check for once", the mechanic sighed with a smile. She would have been so furious if she left it behind that she probably would have tried to come back for it. 

 With 15 minutes to spare the mechanic locked up the house and jumped in the truck. She started it up and drove to nearest gas station. She simply had the tank filled. Originally she had hoped to fill up some spare cans and tanks she kept, but she took longer to pack than she had hoped.  
  
After successfully filling up, the mechanic began to make her way out of the city. 

\--

Finally making it out of the city, the mechanic began to accelerate as much as she could. Normally she would be worried about both a ticket and safety, but she knew that at the moment time was everything. And at the speed she was going she wouldn’t just get a ticket, but her license would probably be revoked.

One thing she couldn’t get off her mind was that she had failed to spot Frederich. With the time she calculated she should have at least seen him just making it to the outer limit of the city. Yet there were no traces of him anywhere. She began to feel a sense of dread and uneasiness so she picked up a little more speed.

If Frederich had already made it to the city then there was no doubt he was gathering up the police force to not only raid her house, but to also hunt down the Bastion. Many residents of Stuttgart remembered all too well what the E54 could do and after the omnic crisis was ended they made sure that the police had special training just in case they ever had to deal with them again. The days of the crusaders was gone, but that didn’t mean the city had to be vulnerable to attacks.

Arriving to the forest the mechanic began to slow down before coming to a full stop. She made a U-turn and began driving in reverse so that the truck bed faced the forest and the front of the car was facing the city. This would make it easier to load the Bastion, but also make taking off a lot easier. She sloppily parked the truck then jumped out and ran straight into the woods. Before she could make it even ten feet in a loud screech pierced her ears and she felt something grabbing and scratching at her head.


	12. Chapter 12

Letting out a shout the mechanic wrapped her arms around her face and head and crouched down. She protected her eyes as she looked up to see what was attacking her. All she managed to catch was a glimpse of yellow before she felt small talons scrape her cheek. 

Realizing who and what was attacking her she stood up and uncovered her face. “Hey!” She looked up to the bird who was getting ready to come back down for an attack. It let out some alarmed chirps and suddenly flew down to a rock by the girl.

“I didn’t know little bird like you got so aggressive” the mechanic joked out loud as she felt her cheek. The scratch wasn’t deep or bleeding, but it did sting a little.

A few feet in front of her the mechanic heard some movement. She couldn’t see what was making the noise because of the trees so she mustered up as much courage as she could and demanded whatever was hiding to reveal itself. She didn’t have anything to defend herself with and as seconds passed she began to regret her statement.

What if it’s an animal?  
What if it’s Frederick?  
Something began to step out from behind the tree and the little bird popped up and flew in its direction.

“W-W-Wooooo…”

 Fully revealing itself was the Bastion the mechanic had been looking for. She let out a smile and hurriedly took a few steps towards it. The omnic let out a multitude of beeps and backed up from the girl.

The mechanic noticed instantly and felt like she had been kicked in the chest. She tried to take another step forward, but the omnic turned around and ran in the other direction.

“H-Hey! Wait!” the mechanic called after the unit. She didn’t understand why it had so suddenly become so evasive. Luckily for her, the omnic was heavy and so its running was no faster than her jogging.

She caught up and put her hand on its arm and planted her feet in the ground.  
“What are you running for? Don’t you recognize me? It’s me. Your friend,” she questioned it. She wasn’t sure if the Bastion could understand her or comprehend the quiver in her voice, but she hoped it did. She desperately hoped that it would understand and go back to normal.

The Bastion already stopped turned and faced her. A few slow, almost sad beeps escaped it and it once again tried to back up. The mechanic only tightened her grip on its large arm. She didn’t care that the arm she was so desperately clinging onto was a gun. The Bastion looked at her and then to the arm. Its beeps intensified and speed up.

“What’s wrong with you?” the mechanic questioned. The Bastion itself was strange, but this was the weirdest behavior the mechanic had seen it exhibit. Hoping to encourage the omnic the mechanic tugged on its arm, trying to pull it in the direction of the truck.

“C-come on. We gotta go” the girl began to feel eyes prickle the corner of her eyes.

Yet the Bastion only continued to look between its arm and the girl’s hand.  
“Dweet! Dweet! Dweet!” the Bastion let out as its face diode faced the gun attached to its arm. It sounded like an alert of some sort, but it was quiet, soft almost.

The mechanic let out a sigh of relief and closed her eyes. She finally understood what was going on. Getting closer to the Bastion she placed the gun’s barrel to face directly at her.  
“You’re not going to hurt me. I trust you” she was trying to calmly convince the omnic, but it was more pleading with it, “you aren’t a danger to me.”  
The omnic’s beeps became erratic and it moved its head to look at the young woman.

“Y-you’re my friend, Bastion” she smiled at the omnic and moved to the side of the gun and wrapped her arms around the omnic. She made sure to avoid the hole that was left from the bullet Frederich shot at it.  

The Bastion didn’t make a move. The mechanic wasn’t even sure if what she was doing made any sense to the omnic, but she was desperate to try anything.

“You have to follow me. You’re in danger if you don’t. Please.” She could hear her voice bounce off the metal of its chest plate, which she was currently resting her forehead on.

“Doo-Woo.”

Jerking her head up the mechanic was now looking directly into the Bastion’s diode. She wasn’t actually sure what the beep meant. But the series that followed after definitely meant the omnic was feeling better. The mechanic released the omnic from her hug and backed up a small step. She smiled at it and rested her hand on the same arm as before. This time she took a step in the direction of the truck and it followed. The mechanic grinned from ear to ear as she picked up the pace. She was happy with the moment, but she was still aware of the danger that both her and the Bastion were in by being near Stuttgart.

As the two neared the truck the mechanic began to wonder how she was going to get the Bastion into the bed of the truck. She definitely wasn’t strong enough to provide any kind of support and the truck didn’t have a lift on it.

Both she and the Bastion stood at the back of the truck looking at the bed. The mechanics eyebrows were knit together and her lips formed a tight line. She wondered how something so simple, yet important, had slipped her mind. The mechanic stepped to the side and leaned on the truck, arms crossed.

“Now what can I use to prop you up?” The mechanic trailed off and surveyed the land around them. Nothing besides the rusty E54 models and a few rocks.

She let out a sigh. Nothing of use. Rusty robots, rocks, more robots, rocks.

The mechanic suddenly gasped and pushed herself off of the truck and hurried back to the Bastion. She put her hand back on its arm and led it to a large rock that was a few feet behind them. She gestured for it to stand on the side and then put her hands up the Bastion, gesturing for it to wait. The Bastion stood there as the girl headed back to the truck. She stopped when she noticed something far off into the distance. Squinting she tried to get a better glimpse of what it was.

“Shit.” She hissed when she noticed it was 3 heavily armored military vans. Hurrying the mechanic got in the car and started it, then put it in reverse right by the Bastion and rock. She practically fell out of the truck as she tried to rush to the Bastion.

“Get in,” she yanked the tailgate down and motioned at the Bastion. The omnic looked at her then at the truck bed. The mechanic bit her lip hoping she wouldn’t have to demonstrate what to do. She peaked her head out to check on the 3 vans and she internally screamed as they had got close enough to see without squinting. She quickly glanced back to the Bastion when she heard a loud noise. Luckily for her, the Bastion had actually sat itself down in the truck bed against the back window part.

She mentally cheered as she hopped in and began to secure the Bastion in with a few straps across its legs. The last thing she needed was it falling out of the truck. The mechanic tugged on the straps and when she was confident enough they would hold the Bastion in she activated the shield. She jumped out of the bed, locked the tailgate back into place, and then ran to the driver’s side of the car. She started the car and wasted no time in making a left turn and taking off. The three trucks followed behind, but the mechanic steadily picked up to a speed that they couldn't match and a distance began to grow between the two. The mechanic noticed that all three had began to slowly disappear as she continued to drive and she realized that they had stopped pursuing her. 

\--

"Call off the mission." A man in his late 50's ordered to the all the men from the trucks. They had all stopped and gathered to discuss what they would do about the truck that had just escaped.  
"You can't call it off" pleaded Frederich, "that girl is harboring a dangerous omnic. She's a threat to anyone that she goes near."  
"Are you doubting my intelligence? Do you think I don't know that?" the man glared at Frederich. Despite being older in age, he was still noticeably fit and his very aura gave off one of dignity and authority. His brown hair was speckled with gray from years of experience and stress. "Besides if she really is with an E54, then she is as good a dead anyway."

The man turned away from Frederick and signaled to everyone to pack up and head back to the city. Frederich continued to stare off into the distance that the woman's truck had driven off into. He was only pulled out of his thoughts when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll be warning all the major cities that there is a potential Bastion on the loose," the man looked down at Fredrich, "but this has to be kept private from regular citizens. This would cause widespread panic if regular civilians heard."

"Thank you, sir" Frederich nodded at the man, who patted his shoulder twice before walking away. Frederich looked into the distance once more before following him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters as an apology for breaking my promise! I hope this was okay omg.


	13. Chapter 13

The mechanic eyed the Bastion as she chugged from a water bottle. After driving for 4 hours, she felt comfortable enough to pull over and check the damage that Bastion had taken. The omnic had been sitting in the back of the truck and she could hear its beeping speed up and slow down as she drove.

She cringed as she watched the Bastion again tried to repair itself. Its left hand sparking as it tried to transform into repair mode. The Bastion’s beeps came out frantic, then fizzled into something she surmised as a whine.

“Please stop” the mechanic half groaned, half pleaded with the machine as she dragged her hands through her hair. She had no idea how to fix the damage that the omnic had taken to its chest plate. It was a known fact that the E54 model was created by an elite team of engineers, so it was really no surprise to her that she had no idea how to work on the complex internal systems of her friend, but that didn’t make it any less frustrating. The mechanic laid back in the bed of the truck, closed her eyes, and swung an arm over them. Her legs were dangling off the edge of the truck and she kicked them back in forth in annoyance as she heard a hissing sound from the omnic as it once again tried to use its hand.

_Wait. Hissing?_

The mechanic shot up and scrambled over to the Bastion and yanked its damaged hand to eye level.

“The answer was right in front of me” she laughed out as she shook her head and stood up, dropping the omnic’s hand. The Bastion simply looked at her and tilted its head.

Jumping off the bed of the truck the mechanic headed to the back seat of her truck for her tool box. She opened up one of them and pulled out various tools, then moved on to another box and examined some wires. Most of them were useless to her at the moment, but every so often she came across one that looked like it would help and set it to the side.

After amassing a small pile of wires, the mechanic pulled out some gloves and a pair of safety googles from another one of the tool boxes. With furrowed brows the girl balanced everything in her arms and slowly walked to the bed of the truck. She groaned when something slipped off the pile in her arms and onto the ground. She kicked at it with her foot hoping it would go in the direction where she was headed, but her foot simply rolled over it instead.

Rolling her eyes and sighing the mechanic, now in front of the truck bed, set the remaining stuff down in the bed and turned around to grab what had fell. She stopped when she heard her companion let out a cheery beep. Turning around, the mechanic saw the Bastion had been reunited with its feathered friend. She let out a half-hearted smile before going back for the fallen item.

Stopping, the mechanic pulled out her phone and stared at the screen. The time, date and battery charge all lit up when she pushed the lock button.

_December 23. 4:50 PM. 73%._

Upon being chased away from the city the mechanic had already decided that she wouldn’t be trying to find a small motel until the night, but what was really bothering her was the date. There were only 2 days away from Christmas and she was spending it on the run with a questionably dangerous omnic and no one that cared about her even knew.  
“Maybe I should call Brigitte,” she thought aloud as she unlocked the screen and went to her contacts. “I can talk to Reinhardt and expla-“

Locking her phone and shoving it in her pocket the mechanic scanned the floor for the fallen item, which happened to be her gloves, snatched them up, and dragged herself back to the back of the truck and onto the bed.

Not wasting any more time she put on the goggles and gloves and sat down in front of the Bastion. 

She pulled the omnic’s busted arm in front of her and began trying to figure out how to get past the armor. At first, she tried pulling it but that didn’t do anything but hurt her fingers. Then, she tried looking for a place to unscrew the armor, but there was nothing but smooth green armor.

The mechanic pursed her lips and pulled the safety goggles off of her head. She ran her hand through her hair tugging on it just a little. She finally had an idea on how she might be able to fix the Bastion’s arm and she couldn’t even get past the dang armor. She glared at the omnic in silence. Part of her hoped it would just suddenly fix the problem itself, the other half hoped it would talk and just tell her what to do. The Bastion simply stared back at her. Or she assumed it was staring at her. In all honestly, she couldn’t always tell where the omnic was looking.

The mechanic suddenly cocked her head to the side, eyebrow cocked.  
“Where’s that little bird of yours?” she asked, annoyance slipping into her tone.

The Bastion continued to stare back at her. It let out a single beep. The mechanic closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

_It’s not the Bastion’s fault. Chill out, it's fine._

Hearing a small creak in front of her, the mechanic opened her eyes to a shocking sight. One of the panels on the side of the Bastion’s head was wide open and the yellow bird was nested in the opening.

“What the hell? You could do that the entire time? Oh my God,” the mechanic asked incredulously.  
Scooting even closer to the Bastion, the mechanic pushed herself onto her knees and grabbed the door-like panel with her left hand. The little bird made a chirp of protest, but didn’t move. She moved it back and forth a little, examining the hinge it was on. The Bastion moved its head in her direction and the mechanic put her right hand on its head to stop it from moving. Much like the bird Bastion made a short beep of what was most likely protest. The mechanic stayed like that for another minute, still examining the hinge. Finally she sat back down in front of the Bastion.  
“Sorry about that,” she shrugged.

The mechanic tapped her fingers on the Bastion’s destroyed hand, hoping it would catch her drift. The omnic once again didn’t move. Muttering a little the mechanic tapped a little harder on the Bastion’s armor. This time she took the other hand and pointed at the side of the Bastion’s head where the bird was still nestled. Again, she got no response.

For ten minutes the cycle continued. She would tap on the Bastion’s arm and then point at the open panel. 

Starting to run out of patience the mechanic patted the Bastion’s armor and the pushed at the panel with her finger. When the omnic continued to just sit there, the woman finally flopped back down onto her butt and rubbed her gloved hands through her hair.

Then the green armor began to dislodge and move back revealing the exact problem the mechanic had guessed; loose and damaged wires. Smiling the mechanic rushed to put her goggles back on and immediately set to work. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This spray was my reference for the last part, just in case you weren't sure what I meant. http://overwatch.wikia.com/wiki/Bastion/Sprays?file=Bastion_Spray_-_Nest.png
> 
> Also, university starts back up for me on the 21st and I don't know how this is going to affect my free time so this is just a heads up in case I don't update as often. But to be honest I want to finish this up soon and maybe start a continuation of this, but with Winston maybe? idk, if there's enough interest maybe. please tell me your opinions. I really value them!!


	14. Chapter 14

Laying on her back the mechanic stared into the night sky. Her back and arms were burning with pain, but after 2 and a half hours the Bastion’s arm was back to working like new. And after another hour the Bastion was even able to repair the damage in its chest plate. The mechanic wasn’t actually sure how it had managed to perfectly fix the hole from the bullet, she didn’t question it but instead decided that she was going to strangle whoever made such indestructible machines.

Getting up with a groan the mechanic decided it was finally time to go find the Bastion and then head out to whatever lodging she could find. It was a risk letting the Bastion out of her sight when the tracking device wasn’t finished, but she felt bad that she had left the omnic strapped into the bed of the truck for hours on end. Plus, she was much too tired to follow the Bastion wherever it wandered off to.

Jumping out of the back, the mechanic was pleasantly surprised to spot the Bastion sitting a few feet away from the truck. She let out a sigh of relief, glad that for once she didn’t have to go searching for the curious machine. Deciding to let the Bastion have a bit more time to itself the mechanic decided to lean back on the truck. She stared at the Bastion, who was sitting there with the small yellow bird settled back into his head.

Her mind began to wander; just a few hours ago she was chased away from the city she was living in and no one but Frederich, and the small militia he had gathered, knew. Not her family back home in the United States. Not even her only friend Reinhardt.

Just the thought of Reinhardt hurt the mechanic. What would he think of her? He had shown her nothing but kindness and genuine care from the first day they met.

The mechanic smiled at a memory of an older man helping her move into her new house and workshop. She had tried to convince him that she didn’t need his help and that she didn’t want to bother someone as distinguished as him just to move some boxes. Of course she knew who he was, he was THE Reinhardt Wilheilm. He was one of the few members of Overwatch that was still greatly respected even after its shutdown. But he had simply laughed at her and continued to help her move things from her truck to the building. After that, there was hardly a day he didn’t stop by to visit. Sometimes he would come with small snacks, other times he would bring along his partner Brigitte. Brigitte and the mechanic got along quickly and by the end of the day had exchanged numbers and numerous tricks and tips about repairing different things.

But would that mean anything to him now? Now that the mechanic abandoned her place in Stuttgart to harbor a machine the former Crusader once called his enemy? The machine that left him as the only living crusader?

The mechanic rubbed her eyes trying to stop the tears before they even came out. Nothing would hurt her more than the loss of Reinhardt’s friendship. She was so far from home, but being around the crusader was just like being around the love of actual family.

Rubbing her eyes even harder the mechanic tried to argue with herself. Reinhardt wasn’t cold hearted. He wouldn’t just abandon her.

Right?

But no reasonable argument she created could soothe her deepest fears about the older gentleman.

The mechanic felt a cold drop of water on her cheek and at first had mistaken it for a rogue tear, but when a strong shiver rippled through her body she noticed that small white puffs were drifting down form the clouds.

Quickly wrapping her arms around herself she scrambled to get into her truck. It made sense that it was snowing, but for the mechanic and her companions it was very inconvenient and unwanted.  
She hadn’t even sorted a proper plan out yet. She was sure that most, if not all, of the major police forces knew who she was and would be waiting for her to enter a major city. That crossed out the option of staying at a nice hotel. And she could stay in her truck and sleep it out there, but without a proper heating system in the truck bed she would at worst, freeze to death, and at best, get frostbite. She would have to get a strong heater, but once again that required going into a city. And she was hungry. That’s another trip to the city. She groaned and leaned her head back on her seat. Exhaustion was already settling in and the ability to think started to get harder.

Stifling a yawn the mechanic clicked on the truck bed’s particle barrier then dragged herself out of the driver’s seat and out into the cold again. She headed to the back and was relieved that the Bastion had sat itself into its original spot.  
The mechanic hopped into the back of the truck with the intentions of checking on the omnic, but was immediately confused at the temperature difference once she stepped past the barrier. Instead of the sharp chill of winter, there was an embracing warmth. Knowing she didn’t bring any sort of heating system the mechanic looked around trying to find the source but, there was nothing in there except for the omnic and their bird friend.  
She walked over to the Bastion and felt the temperature grow even warmer. By the time she was in front of it, the need for the extra layers of clothing felt like too much. She started to put everything together. Just to make sure she was right she reached her hand out toward the Bastion, whom she was now in front of, and touched it.  
She hissed and instantly recoiled when a sharp, stinging pain spread through her palm. She cradled her hand with the other and the Bastion jumped up a flurry of beeps rushing out of it. Despite the pain the mechanic motioned for the omnic to sit back down. The omnic continued to stand for a moment then, perhaps on realizing that the woman was okay and deep in thought, sat back down.

“Stay right here Bastion, everything is okay,” the mechanic reassured the omnic before rushing out of the bed of the truck and to the driver’s seat.

She started the truck up and quickly started to drive in the direction of the woods, which were still to the left of them. Earlier in the day she had thought of how inconvenient it was that they were still driving alongside it, but now she was thankful that those woods seemed to stretch forever.

There was enough space between the trees to drive and after getting about half a mile in the mechanic finally stopped the car, put it into park and cut the engine off. She climbed into the back seat and began shuffling through one of her suitcases full of clothing. One by one she pulled out a turtleneck shirt, a flannel button up, a thick sweater, a large winter coat, some thermal pants, sweatpants, and a thick pair of socks.  
She began to squirm and wiggle around in the back of the truck, trying to get the clothes on as quickly as possible to avoid the cold. A few times she hit her head or foot and would let out a whine which would elicit a worried beep from the Bastion in the back of the truck. She would waive the omnic off and continue the struggle before, once again, bumping her limb on something and repeating the whole process.  

Once she was completely changed she put her boots back on and grabbed up all of the bedding she had brought with her and headed back to the bed of truck.

She had been avoiding the feeling in her stomach for most of the day, but now it became unbearable and she knew she had to eat something. The mechanic opened her satchel and was glad to find an apple, some mints, a banana, and most importantly a peanut butter sandwich in her bag. It was simple, but with the situation she was in she had no complaints. The mechanic grabbed the banana and sandwich then finally locked up the truck and headed to the back. She climbed in and rearranged the back around the sitting omnic whose head followed her every movement.

Finally done, the mechanic sat down a few feet away from the Bastion and let out a deep breath. She looked at the makeshift bed she had created and was content with it. Of course it was nothing fancy and it wouldn’t be the most comfortable, but it was her safest option right now and honestly she just welcomed any place to lay her head and rest for a bit.

The mechanic lifted her hands up to the Bastion and absorbed the warmth radiating from the machine. She let out a sigh of content and brought her hands up to cradle her face, transferring the warmth.

Feeling warmed up and comfortable the mechanic grabbed one of her pillows and two blankets and adjusted it near the Bastion. She didn’t want to be too close because the heat coming from the omnic was strong, but a little distance was enough to be comfortable.  

Closing her eyes the mechanic whispered a small good night to the Bastion and quickly drifted off to sleep.

The Bastion stared at the mechanics sleeping form before letting its head drop and its diode go dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long wait. I've really wanted to continue this, but honestly I hit my first writer's block and really did not know how to handle it at all. I know what I want to happen in this story, but the how really got to me and then I just stopped writing entirely. But I think I've sorted out what I want to do and can finish this story soon! And again thank you for the kind comments, I haven't been able to respond to them all yet, but I see them and I really do appreciate those of you who leave them. It really does make a difference to me!


	15. Chapter 15

“DWEET! DWEET! DWEET!”

The mechanic jolted awake to the sound of the Bastion’s panicking louder than she had ever heard before. She shot up and quickly looked at the omnic to see if something was wrong with it.Any remaining sleep that was clouding her vision immediately dissipated when she saw the stance of the omnic.  

The Bastion had reduced in size. Its head had tucked into the rest of its body, the diode peeking out ever so slightly. The mechanic’s eyes shot to the Bastion’s gun which was tucked close to its body and ready to fire. But what worried the mechanic the most was how the omnic was frantically turning around, surveying the area. She tried to follow its movements, but had a hard time keeping up.*

“Looking for me,” an unknown voice asked smugly.

The mechanic’s head whipped back to face the end of the truck bed, when a woman suddenly appeared in front of her. She let out a gasp of surprise and felt every hair on her body stand on end. Fear gripped the mechanics body as she stared at the woman, unable to speak. The Bastion had noticed the woman too and immediately switched to turret mode.

“Aw, don’t look so scared. I’m not gonna hurt you,” the woman shrugged. Despite her friendly gesture and tone she maintained a steady hold on her gun that was pointed at the Bastion.

“W-who are you” the mechanic weakly demanded. She knew she should have shown more courage, but fear had got the best of her.

The woman smiled and the mechanic instantly tensed up even more. While the stranger wasn’t directly threatening her, the mechanic had a feeling that the woman standing before her was troublesome. For one thing, the woman wasn’t dressed in everyday attire. She wore an almost entirely purple ensemble with hints of black and grey. Her eye makeup and bottom part of her also featured the same color. A side of her head was shaved and had some kind of cybernetic attachments to it. In fact, on closer inspection the mechanic noticed the woman had technology on her hands, feet and head. Just who was this woman?  
“Quit staring, amiga” the woman chimed.

 “Who are you” the mechanic asked again with more confidence.

Instead of answering the question the woman began to list off details about the mechanic. Her name, date and place of birth, parents, blood type, home address both in the U.S. and in Stuttgart, graduation dates, even type of degree; things that no stranger should have known. The woman was picking at her nails casually, as if she was listing off information from a grocery list and not someone’s personal life details.

The mechanic backed away from the woman, but tripped on her makeshift bed. The woman stared down at the mechanic, smirking as she continued to list off the mechanic’s personal life details. The mechanic stared up in disbelief at the woman.

The woman started to close the distance between herself and the mechanic, but stopped when the Bastion’s turret reload. The mechanic suddenly remembered the omnic was there and looked wearily at it. The Bastion’s diode was now red and immediately the situation became very dangerous.

“Call off your machine” the woman nodded at the Bastion.  
The mechanic didn’t say anything. Her eyes shifted between the two, thinking. The woman repeated her statement with more force. This time, the mechanic stood up and put one hand on the gun of the Bastion. The Bastion’s turret began to spin, but no bullets came out yet.  
“No. Answer me: Who are you” the mechanic narrowed her eyes at the woman. She had pushed fear to the back of her mind, aware that with the Bastion the situation was in her favor.  
The woman let out a small laugh, “You’ve got guts, but you’ve also got this all wrong.”

Suddenly the woman threw something into the air. The mechanic moved her hand away from the Bastion rolled to the side, closed her eyes and covered her ears. She yelled out for the omnic to shoot and immediately hundreds of bullets started flying in the direction of the woman.

But then they stopped. It had not even been a full minute and the shooting had stopped. The mechanic opened her eyes only to see the Bastion laying on the floor, unmoving. It then started to let out a symphony of worried beeps. The woman now stood in front of them both, face consumed with mischief and a smirk.

“No manches. You made this a lot harder than I thought you would,” the woman sighed out in jest.

“What did you do,” the mechanic shouted at the woman, anger beginning to bubble.

The stranger looked taken aback for a second, but her smile immediately made its way back. “Oh, that. It’ll be fine, but it was in the way.” She shrugged nonchalantly. ”But now I think it’s time we talk business.”

The woman crouched down and stared at the mechanic. Her eyes were playful, but also held something powerful and dangerous to them. The mechanic simply sighed in defeat and let her head hang as she agreed to listen to the woman.  
“Since you and your little friend were a little fun, I’ll be nice and entertain you. Call me Sombra.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it really an Overwatch fanfic if everyone's favorite hacker doesn't make some kind of appearance? Who knows, but I definitely wanted to add her because I love Sombra, her lore, and her game play.   
> *reference to the Alert! emote


	16. Chapter 16

“This is crazy. I cannot – no I do not believe this is happening,” the mechanic tangled her hands in her hair and shook her head. “You’re telling me the single most dangerous organization in the world wants me to work for them? Talon? Who has apparently been watching me since graduating university? And the most notorious – and WANTED, can’t forget that little detail – hacker in entire world came to warn me of this?” Her voice became mocking as the questions rolled out and eventually died off into a full blown laugh.

The woman, Sombra, suddenly grabbed the mechanic up by the collar and brought her so that the two were eye to eye.

“Now look, amiga. I’m not here to be joked with. You can either accept my help or let your fate fall into the hands Talon. And trust me, they won’t take rejection smoothly. I’m trying to help you out so you can help me, so what’s is gonna be?”

The mechanic frantically tried to push Sombra away to no avail. She had seemed so harmless, and definitely didn’t look half as strong as she actually was.  
“O-okay, okay. What do you want me to do?” the mechanic stuttered out pathetically with wide eyes.

 Sombra stared down the mechanic for a second before a smile spread on her face and she released the mechanic’s shirt.

“Good, so here’s what we’re gonna do,” she patted the mechanic’s shoulders playfully and began laying out a very specific and detailed plan. The mechanic sat down and only half listened, instead choosing to get lost in thought about how her life has become a complete mess in a matter of days.

“Ay, amiga. Pay Attention: When you get into the city you’ve got exactly 2 hours to do what you need to do. I got a hotel room for you, but it doesn’t mean much since you’re not staying long, use it to clean up then leave. Got it?”  
“Wait what? No. How am I supposed to get into the city?” The mechanic began to panic and starting shooting questions a mile a minute.

Sombra pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned, “Escúchame, por favor. I told you I’m hacking into the facial recognition systems of the city. It won’t last long so get in and get out in under 2 hours, got it?”

“Oh yeah okay, got it sorry,” the mechanic averted her gaze in embarrassment.

“Alright then! Let’s go, friend.” And with that Sombra jumped out of the trunk bed and headed to the passenger seat of the truck.   

 “Wait a second! What are you doing? I didn’t agree to give you a ride. Besides I need to change in there. Please get out.” The mechanic immediately darted after the purple clad hacker.

“You need my help to get in the city, right? Or maybe you like sleeping in the back of a truck” Sombra raised an eyebrow and smirked.

The mechanic frowned and let out a huff, “Okay yeah, but could you at least let me change before you make yourself comfortable?”

“Hurry up.”

The mechanic stood there for a second staring at the hacker, who proceeded to tap her finger on her wrist where a watch should have been. The mechanic rolled her eyes and jumped into the back seats sorting through her luggage for something warm but also that could quickly be taken off. If she was going to have a hotel room then she would definitely use it for a shower and would change into proper clothes later.

Sombra had turned her back to give the mechanic some privacy, and after a few moments the mechanic called out to her letting her know she was done changing and ready to go. Before she could fully get into the car though the mechanic stopped Sombra, hand up to catch her attention and make her stop from moving forward. Sombra stopped, crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.  
“How are we going to sneak Bastion through?”

“As long as I keep it hacked it won’t be going anywhere. Just throw a blanket over it and call it a day,” she shrugged and tapped a finger on her arm. Her patience was obviously reaching its limit.

The mechanic frowned, opened her mouth to say something then closed it. She got out of the car and went to the trunk of the bed.  
The Bastion was still laying stiff in the back. It made a few beeps in acknowledgement when the mechanic came into sight then went silent when the mechanic apologized and threw a tarp over it.

Getting back into the driver’s seat the mechanic started the car and took a deep breath, “Alright, let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a little short, but I'm done with finals so I'll be able to update more often. I'm planning to have this done before the end of December and if all goes well this will be done before Christmas. Also please just hold tight because in the next chapter Sombra will do some explaining in her own vague and taunting way. And as always thank you thank you thank you for reading, the kudos, the comments. I appreciate it all.


	17. Chapter 17

“Why me?” the mechanic suddenly blurted out. The drive had been silent aside from the car’s motor. Sombra was busy doing whatever on the screens she was projecting and the mechanic had occupied herself with just driving.

“You weren’t their first choice, don’t feel too special.” Sombra didn’t even look up from the screen she was reading from.

The mechanic clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes, “Trust me I don’t, but I still want to know.”

Throwing her head back and letting out a long sigh Sombra let the screen vanish from in front of her and turned to the mechanic. The mechanic cocked an eyebrow and side eyed the woman. Did she have to be so dramatic?

“You’re good at fixing stuff,” Sombra dragged her words, “so Talon wants you to fix their stuff.” It was obvious she wanted the mechanic to take a hint, but that wasn’t enough for the mechanic. The mechanic opened her mouth to speak, but Sombra continued again.

“But the thing is you’re good. Real good. Almost too good. You catch on fast and fix things – or even design and build things if you actually try – in a flash. That first part obviously is what got you through university with such decent grades,” Sombra smirked at that last part.

The mechanic flinched and began to feel a creeping insecurity in her stomach. Sure, she was an okay but it would be a lie if she said she completely applied herself to the work. Suddenly the mechanic’s mouth fell open as Sombra pushed multiple small screens and files about the mechanic into her peripheral.

Each screen hosted information about the mechanic that really only she herself should know completely. Yet there it all was in the hand of one woman. Place of birth, age, weight, schooling from preschool until university, achievements, personal contacts, family, and then private information about family.

“H-how do you have all that” the mechanic breathed out. “Has Talon really been watching me for that long?” She felt a tight knot in her chest and she desperately wanted to pull over, but couldn’t pull herself completely out of the daze she had fallen into.

Sombra let out a loud laugh, “Of course not. Most of this stuff is for me. Sure some of it Talon had. But the deep stuff? That’s all mine. I needed it in case you decided you didn’t want to help me help you.”

“So blackmail?” The mechanic felt herself calm down, but only a little bit.

“I prefer to think of it as a motivation.”

The mechanic’s lips pursed into a tight line. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. She frowned then after a few seconds opened her mouth again, “You keep implying that by helping you I’m also helping myself. What do you mean?”

Sombra perked up, “I thought you'd never ask. I’ll keep it short: I keep you off of Talon’s radar and you help me whenever I need it. Simple, no?”

The mechanic was almost taken aback by how simple and beneficial the idea was. That didn’t leave her without her cautions though.  
She bit at her lower lip and hummed to herself for a few seconds.

“Well that sounds good enough, but how are you going to do that? And what am I supposed to help you with? I don’t want to be involved with anything illegal,” she paused to think for a second before hurriedly adding, “more illegal than what I’ve already done.”

“That’s not important right now, because this city right here is our destination.” Sombra pointed at the front window to the approaching outline of a city.

An approaching sign welcomed the two to Giessen. The mechanic nodded her head in acknowledgement and flexed her fingers slowly before taking a deep breath out. 

Her heartbeat began to pick up and she could feel her palms getting sweaty. Giessen was smaller than Stuttgart, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t advanced and crowded in its own way. Plus, Sombra never told her what the plan was. Really, she wasn’t sure if she could trust this woman at all. Would the world’s most notorious hacker really give away her identity as easily as this woman had? The mechanic swiftly side eyed the woman, who was now checking the surroundings with obvious suspicion.

“Find somewhere to pull over,” Sombra commanded, “and do it behind some cover. A building or something.”

 The mechanic began to look around for some kind of street to turn down that wasn’t busy, but it was the holiday season and it was packed outside.

“We don’t have all day” the hacker sarcastically reminded the mechanic.  
Feeling too rushed the mechanic pulled into the first alleyway that she saw then shot Sombra an angry look.  
“Look, I’m just trying to help. But it’s hard since you’re so vague with everything. I mean what’s the deal with that. I don’t even know the plan and I’m supposed to be helping…” the mechanic began rambling at the hacker who rolled her eyes.  
“You’re taking this very seriously,” Sombra crossed her arms.

The mechanic didn’t like the dismissive tone that the hacker had used and opened her mouth to retort, but Sombra beat her to speaking.

“All I need you to do is stay here. Don’t go anywhere and don’t leave until I comeback. It’s simple so don’t mess this up.” Sombra opened the car door and began to get out.

Despite being annoyed with the hacker and her personality the mechanic kept her mouth shut and paid attention to the simple instructions she was given. She still felt worry in the pit of her stomach and suspicion definitely had her on edge, but she really didn’t have any other choice but to go along.

Before closing the door Sombra set a small device on the passenger seat. A faint beeping noise came from it and the mechanic stared intently at it. She vaguely recognized it from when Sombra first interrupted her and Bastion, but this was her first time seeing it up close and her first time seeing anything like it. She leaned her face closer to take a better look at it then looked back to the hacker.

“Always leave yourself a back door,” Sombra winked then swiped her hand over her upper body, going invisible.  

The mechanic leaned back in her seat and ran her hands over her face.

-

Fingers drummed the steering wheel as the mechanic once again checked her phone for the time. Sombra had only been gone for a little over 30 minutes, but to the mechanic it had felt like hours. She looked out the all of the windows to make sure no one was around. The coast was clear, but that didn’t ease her mind in the slightest.

The mechanic tried to sit in silence, but the steady beeping from the device that Sombra had left was interrupting every thought the mechanic tried to create. Fed up the mechanic decided to get out of the truck figuring that if she stayed right by it then she technically wouldn’t be disobeying what Sombra had told her to do.

She opened the door and peeked around it to make sure that no one was around. It was clear and the mechanic briskly walked to the back of the truck and hopped into its bed. She made her way to the back and lifted the blanket that had been placed over the Bastion. Immediately upon seeing the mechanic the omnic began to let out chirps and beeps. Cringing the mechanic brought a finger up to her lips and tried to shush the Bastion, who proceeded to mimic her shushing noises. The mechanic put her forehead in her hand for a second before again bringing her fingers to her lips. This time she didn’t make a sound and the Bastion ceased as well. Letting out a small sigh, the mechanic quickly whipped her head around checked to make sure the noise hadn’t attracted anyone and was relieved to see it was just her and the Bastion.     

The omnic still couldn’t move due to the hacking from Sombra so the mechanic decided to scoot next to it to sit. She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her arms and head on top of them. The two sat together in silence. The mechanic began to bite on her lower lip and frown. She just wanted Sombra to get back soon because the apprehension she felt from waiting was really beginning to weigh on her. She was exhausted from the whole ordeal, and quite honestly of Sombra as well. Though she had been civil with the hacker, to say that the woman was on the mechanic’s nerves was an understatement.  
Closing her eyes the mechanic just let herself become absorbed by the silence and the company of the Bastion. At first, the mechanic was just trying to gather her thoughts, but as she began to get more comfortable her body started to feel heavier and soon she was nodding to sleep.

Right before she could hit a deeper sleep a sharp beeping noise startled her awake. Frantically, she looked around her trying to determine where the sound was from. She knew it wasn’t the Bastion because she was right next to it, but the noise also wasn’t too far away. She scrambled out of the truck bed and began to track the sound. She tilted her head towards the sound and followed it straight to her passenger door. She looked in the window and saw Sombra’s device still placed in the seat. The sound was obviously coming from the device, but why? The mechanic opened the door and jabbed at the device. Nothing happened, but the device began to beep even faster and louder. The mechanic backed grabbed the device and set it on the ground. She knew from her first encounter with Sombra that it wasn’t a bomb, but she was still largely unfamiliar with the technology. Whatever it did, she didn’t want it done in her truck.  

The mechanic stared intently at the device as she took a seat in front of it. She was hoping she could try to figure out something about it by studying the exterior. It was obviously some kind of transportation device and it allowed Sombra to get around, but how?

As the mechanic stared a flash of purple, almost pixel-like lights appeared near the device.

“Hey” a nonchalant voice chimed as a figure appeared before the mechanic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to have this out before Christmas but uhhhhh it didn't happen lol. But merry christmas and happy holidays to everyone!


	18. Chapter 18

The mechanic leaned away from the woman with wide eyes. She wasn’t expecting her to appear right at that moment.

“Don’t look so scared” the hacker shook her head “it’s just me. Now look, I have places to be so here’s how this goes. You get a whole day in this city. That’s 24 hours, but I suggest you don’t leave before tomorrow morning. Now, hand me your phone.” The hacker placed her hand out waiting for the mechanic.

Still stunned the mechanic fumbled in her pockets searching for her phone and eventually handed it over to Sombra whose well-manicured fingers immediately unlocked the phone and began tapping on the screen. A small holographic keyboard manifested and the hacker began typing at rapid speed. She moved things to and fro and while the mechanic tried to keep up, it ended up not making sense to her so she just stared absentmindedly at the hacker tampering with her phone.

A couple minutes later Sombra appeared satisfied and cut the phone screen off. Before handing it back to the mechanic she pulled a small card out of her pocket and placed it on top of the phone.

“What’s that? What did you do to my phone? Are you sure it’s safe for me to be in the city? I’m not comfortable with this.” The mechanic immediately began to let out a flood of worries the second she felt it was a good time to talk.

“Key to your hotel room. Made it easier for me to get ahold of you when I need to. I took down facial recognition systems in the entire city for the day. Any other questions?” Sombra inspected her nails as if they were the single most interesting thing on the planet.

“Hotel? What hotel? Why are you so vague?” Once again the word flood came pouring out.  
“The address is on the card. Now that’s all from me. I’d love to stay and chat…but I’m not going to.” Sombra tapped the mechanic’s forehead and disappeared.

The mechanic roughly wiped at the place that Sombra had touched and let out a scoff. She stomped back to the driver’s seat and plopped in the seat. She looked at the card Sombra had given her and read the address of the place she was supposed to be staying at.

After reading it for a little the mechanic finally set the card down and started the car.

-

It didn’t take the mechanic too long to get her destination. The place was actually really nice, high class almost. For a second she wondered how Sombra had managed to get her a room then instantly brushed the thought away, already knowing the answer.

The hotel was so nice that they actually had small private garages for vehicles that could be rented. And thankfully Sombra had also “rented’ one. Even though she was incredibly vague and frustrating she was also definitely one step ahead of anything the mechanic could have thought of.

The mechanic parked the truck, checked on the Bastion, grabbed her suitcase and rushed up to the room number that was assigned on the card.

When she walked in she closed and locked the door, then instantly ran for the bathroom. She stripped as fast as she could, tugging at her clothes and almost falling a few times, then cut the water on as hot as she could. She let out a deep sigh as the water poured down on her hair and skin. She cupped her hands and let the water gather before splashing some on her face.

 Eventually the mechanic stopped just standing under the water and actually started to wash herself. And after a whole hour of brushing, detangling, splashing and washing, she stepped out of the steamy bathroom and into the rest of the room where she changed into a clean pair of clothes. She sat down at the edge of her bed and pondered between going to sleep and heading out. Her stomach rumbled and the thought of taking a nap instantly flew out of the window.

-

The mechanic decided to walk around the city. At first it had seemed like a bad idea, but it seemed more risky to drive a Bastion harboring truck and on top of that whatever Sombra had done allowed her to get safely to the hotel with no problem so there was a little reassurance in that.

She ate at a random restaurant, not even bothering to be picky about the type of food it was. She was just happy to be eating a proper meal and made sure to order enough to take out. When she was done there she walked around the city, just enjoying a normal day out. It felt like an eternity since she had just done regular activities like run errands in the city or go out for a walk. And really it was. Even in Stuttgart the only times she went out was when Reinhardt had forced her out. He would tell her in his warm, booming voice that it wasn’t good to stay in all day and drag her along with him and Brigette.

The mechanic cringed a little at the thought of Reinhardt. She still wasn’t sure how he would react to her now. But before she could get too caught up in her emotions something in the corner of her caught her attention. She stopped and found herself in front of a little clothing shop. In its display window was a little scarf and beanie set. The beanie was orange with a white puff on the end and the scarf was orange with similar white puffs on the end. It was cute and before the mechanic knew it she was at the register paying for it.

“Last minute Christmas shopping, huh?” the cashier smiled at her as she rang up the set.

The mechanic frowned for a second, “Christmas? Already?” She said it aloud but it was meant to be more to herself than to the woman.

“It’s tomorrow. I’m surprised that anyone could manage to lose track of the time with how festive everything has been lately.” The cashier laughed lightly. She really was surprised that the girl hadn’t noticed any of the Christmas decorations that were everywhere in the city.

“I’ve been…busy…travelling,” the mechanic carefully picked her words “for work.” She smiled nervously as she handed the cashier some money to pay for her items.

“Oh, that’s a shame that you’re so occupied that this holiday season has snuck up on you but I hope you can find time to enjoy the holidays” the woman smiled and handed over a receipt.

The mechanic thanked her then walked out the store. She looked around and yeah, it was definitely Christmas Eve. There were people of all kinds out for the season. Adults scurrying about, most likely searching for last minute gifts, couples looking at the decorations together, children kicking at the loose snow on the ground.  
The mechanic let out a sarcastic laugh to herself. It didn’t really bother her that she was alone this Christmas. That was the plan the year anyway. No, what bothered her was that she forgot about it entirely. If she wanted to waste a holiday away she at least wanted to do it because she chose to and not because it slipped past her.

This time the mechanic took her time going back to her hotel room. She looked at the street decorations, walked in and out of bakeries purchasing a few holiday snacks here and there; enjoying the atmosphere. It was past 7 p.m. by the time she went back to her hotel room and she was thoroughly exhausted.

Changing into a pair of pajamas the mechanic fell onto the bed and let out a deep sigh of content. She rolled over and grabbed her phone, which had been laying on the pillow next to her all day charging. She unlocked it to set an alarm only for her screen to go black with a small skull-like emblem in the middle. Purple text began to appear.

_Hey there._

The mechanic tapped on the screen to try and respond, but no keyboard was popping up. She frantically tapped it but still nothing.

_You can’t respond to these messages so don’t try._

“Then why didn’t you say that first” the mechanic scoffed out loud.

_The hack on your little secret end tomorrow at 8 a.m._

The mechanic felt her face begin to heat up. Partially because she was mad that Sombra had completely taken advantage of the fact that it was omnic. But most of it was from the embarrassment she felt knowing that she had spent the day out enjoying her time while Bastion had laid locked in a garage.

_See ya later._

The screen went back to its normal screen. If someone looked at the phone they would never think that it was hijacked by an infamous hacker.

The mechanic went through every app on her phone, trying to find something that could link back to Sombra. Though everything was the same as it was before. Nothing was moved or changed.  
After a thorough search the mechanic gave up and set an alarm for 5 a.m. She figured it would be early enough that Sombra’s suggestion was put to use, but also so that she could drive far out enough to let the Bastion do as it pleased when the hack ended.

Plugging her phone back into the charger, the mechanic set it to the side and rolled over. There was a storm of emotions in her, but they weren’t as strong as the need for sleep and soon she drifted off.

-

At 5 a.m. on the dot the mechanic’s alarm went off. She didn’t want to get up just yet so she used her hand to try and feel around for it. She eventually heard something hit the ground and she groaned. Pulling herself up the mechanic leaned over the side of the bed, fishing for what was obviously the phone. Finally her hand grasped it and she cut the alarm off. She opened her eyes and dragged her hand down her face to try and wake herself up.

Forcing herself to move the mechanic swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat there for 5 minutes. Once she stood up she made a beeline for the bathroom.

Dressed and packed the mechanic made her way out of the hotel and into the garage. She whispered out to the Bastion to let it know that it was her before she got in the truck. She wasted no time in starting it up and driving out of the garage, then out of the city. The mechanic felt a small tinge of sadness in leaving, but she also knew that it was for her and the Bastion’s safety.

The mechanic drove until it was time for Sombra’s hack to end and when 7 hit, she drove the car somewhere private and let the Bastion out.

It seemed to appreciate her presence as it greeted her with cheerful noises and even waved at her. She smiled, just glad to know that it was okay. The omnic quickly walked out of the bed and into the open nature that it seemed to enjoy. It let out a few chirps and beeps and stuck its hand out. The mechanic watched it curiously wondering exactly what it was doing. A minute passed, then two. It had been three minutes yet the omnic still stood still. The mechanic got up, concern spread on her face. Had Sombra’s hack messed with Bastion’s system? Did she break him?  
The mechanic went to get out of the truck bed, but stopped when a small yellow bird appeared. She instantly relaxed.

“It was just waiting,” the mechanic breathed out, relieved.

The yellow bird had landed on the Bastion’s hand and responded with a few chirps of its own, tilting its small head.  

Feeling relaxed and secluded enough the mechanic finally decided to work on something that she had been purposely ignoring since leaving Stuttgart; the tracking device. At some point she had kind of considered just giving up on the project since she was with Bastion almost all the time, but the encounter with Sombra and the information she learned she decided finishing the device was important.

The mechanic grabbed all of her tools out of the back seats and set them in the truck bed. It was the best place to work as it provided a lot of free space and the barrier kept the snow off of the different parts.

Spreading everything she needed out the mechanic finally sat down in the middle of the mayhem, put on her safety goggles and gloves, and instantly got to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be out sooner (Christmas time whoops) but it wasn't. idk idk i don't even feel like I can apologize at this point bc it's so bad lol


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was sooner than my usual shitty updates, because i've been writing bigger chunks then splitting them up. Idk if I like doing that I think it kinda stops me from overthinking things.

The mechanic yanked the safety goggles off of her face and threw them out the truck bed. They sank into the fresh powdery snow, leaving a small hole. She shoved the tracking device away from herself and let out a deep sigh, face towards the sky. The sun had risen and fell, yet the device still didn’t work like it should have. Multiple times it had cut on and it _seemed_ fine, but then it would send sparks shooting out in every direction. When that problem was solved it then began to make a strange whistling sound. After that it would just cut off within a matter of seconds. Each time she fixed one problem another one would arise out of nowhere. She had fixed the sparks and whistling, it was keeping the device on that had turned into hours of cussing, hair pulling, and stress. If she worked on the device any longer she would probably end up destroying it in a fit of stress-induced rage.

“Doo wooooo” the Bastion let out a whine-like noise from the outside of the truck. The omnic had just returned from doing whatever exploring it wanted to do. The mechanic had trusted the omnic enough to not go too far and luckily, it was the right decision.

She took a deep breath and flexed her fingers to calm herself down. She knew that she nothing would be achieved by being angry and lashing out at the omnic. Finally she looked at the omnic and smiled, only to blink a few times at the sight in front of her.  
The Bastion had a snow owl perched on its gun while the small yellow bird was nestled on the other shoulder in the nest it insisted on rebuilding anytime something happened to it.

The mechanic simply stared at the Bastion in wonder. Nature seemed so accepting of the omnic, despite its threatening presence. Every creature seemed to accept it as if it was one of its own and she wondered if maybe this Bastion was really no different than the rest of the living creatures in the wild. As she stared the omnic cocked its head to the side. She simply smiled again and stood up.  
The owl flapped its wings in caution, ready to take flight if she got too close. The mechanic moved slowly, hoping not to scare away the omnic’s new friend. One by one she picked up her tools and put them away in their respective bags.

Still the owl flew away. The mechanic felt a little at fault for moving so much, but the Bastion seemed fine as it bent over and picked something out of the snow. The yellow bird flew in the air letting out a few annoyed chirps. When the Bastion returned to its upright position it was gripping in its hand the goggles that the mechanic had thrown in her mini tantrum.   
The mechanic thanked the Bastion aloud then took the goggles back from it and threw them on top of one of the toolboxes. The Bastion hoisted itself up into the truck bed with the help of a tree stump right at the end of the truck and sat itself back in its usual spot. The two sat together for a few minutes before the mechanic got up to get some food from the front of the truck.

As she was shuffling through some of the bags she heard a familiar tune drift from the Bastion. She held her chin in her hand as she tried to figure out how the omnic had learned the tune to “Jingle Bells.” After a moment she figured it had caught on from the carols being played in the city and decided to hum along quietly to herself as she made her way back to the Bastion.

Back in the truck bed the mechanic ate at her food silently and watched as the little yellow bird began moving back and forth, once again trying to remake its nest. She felt kind of bad that the little bird still hadn’t figured it was best to give up on nesting there, but at the same time she admired the bird’s perseverance. It was definitely more dedicated to its own project than she was with hers. It half inspired her and half stressed her out.

Trying to ignore the biting insecurities the mechanic picked up the scarf and hat set she had brought with the food. It was a cute little set and quite possibly handmade. The material was thick and warm, but felt nice and wasn’t itchy. The mechanic felt a little bad looking at the set now. She really had no reason to buy it. She didn’t have anyone to give gifts to and the orange and white colorway wasn’t exactly her style, especially the little beanie. She admitted to herself that it was an impulse buy and maybe it was her subconscious trying to find a way to celebrate the holiday.  
The mechanic decided to wrap the scarf around her own neck. She figured that since the money was already spent she could at least use the scarf. She played with the little pompoms at the end of the scarf, not really thinking about anything in particular when she noticed the Bastion transfixed on the beanie. She turned and stared at the omnic for a second before snatching up the beanie. She crawled closer to the omnic and put the beanie on the top of its head. The omnic responded with questioning beeps and chirps, so the mechanic brought the camera up on the phone and set it to the front facing camera.

The omnic silently looked at camera for a few seconds before immediately releasing a frenzy of excited, high pitched noises. Startled, the mechanic’s finger slipped and a shutter noise came from the phone. Quickly gaining her composure the mechanic opened the phone’s photo gallery and instantly let out a big laugh.  
There on the screen was a picture of the omnic with the small hat on, the little bird blurry from movement and the mechanic wide eyed, clearly unprepared.

She shook her head, still laughing a little, and deleted the picture. Again she cut the camera back on and scooted even closer to the Bastion. The omnic again began beeping, but this time the mechanic kept an iron grip on the phone. She smiled and the camera shutter clicked again.

Once again opening the camera the mechanic was pleasantly surprised at the picture. It managed to capture her, the Bastion, and the little bird in a clear picture. The mechanic smiled because it really was a cute picture. She looked to the omnic who was still looking at the phone. It raised its hand and tapped the picture.

“Yeah, that’s us” the mechanic smiled at the omnic.

It responded with excited beeps and chirps before transitioning into Jingle Bells again.

The mechanic closed her eyes and listened to the omnic, letting her mind jump from topic to topic. She considered the idea that the Christmas with Bastion in the middle of Germany was better than what she would have had at Stuttgart by herself. And it was actually a thought she was surprisingly content with.

-

The mechanic woke up in the back of truck bed. She couldn’t remember when she fell asleep, or even falling asleep for that matter. She looked around for the Bastion and spotted it sitting on the edge of the bed. Relieved she didn’t have to look for the omnic, she pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time. It had been so dark and cloudy lately that it could have been night or day.

When she tried to unlock the screen remained black. The mechanic frowned because the battery shouldn’t have died so soon, but before she could think more of it a purple skull appeared on the screen.  
The mechanic instantly felt her mood drop and mentally prepared herself for the worse.

_No time to chat. Go find your Overwatch friend and stay with him. Don’t remain in one place for too long._

And just like that the screen once again returned to normal.  
The mechanic glanced around the area just to make sure it was just her and the Bastion. They were in the middle of nowhere and by a forest far from cities and towns, but Sombra’s message had left her scared.

Immediately deciding to heed the warning the mechanic convinced the Bastion back to its original spot, strapped it down, shuffled back to the truck, wrangled on new clothes and drove off. Now that she had a set destination to reach the mechanic felt a little at ease knowing that she wouldn’t just be wandering aimlessly around Germany. Instead she would be wandering aimlessly around Sweden. Which presented a new problem: when she finds Reinhardt what was she going to do about Bastion?

And just as quickly as her spirits rose they pummeled at the thought of abandoning the omnic and disappointing Reinhardt. What was she supposed to do? Of course, the older gentleman had become like family to the mechanic over the years so he was very special to her. But she had gone through so much with the Bastion in such a small amount of time that it wouldn’t feel right if she just abandoned it.  
So for the next few hours the mechanic drove North in absolute silence as she pondered the choices she would have to make.


	20. Chapter 20

 After spending most of the day driving the mechanic finally stopped to rest. She went to the back of the truck and unbuckled the Bastion. The Bastion let out a few gracious beeps before walking out and jumping out of the truck bed. The mechanic watched the omnic with dull, forlorn eyes. The thought of having to face Reinhardt with Bastion was weighing down heavily on her. She wanted to forget all the problems just for once. And that’s when the mechanic got an idea.

The mechanic collected up all of her tools figuring that stressing herself on one task would provide a solid temporary distraction. She spread everything she needed in front of her and prepared herself to work for just a few hours. If she was lucky the tracking device could finally be completed and attached to the Bastion.

As the mechanic worked the Bastion wandered around nearby. At she thought it was aimless roaming, but every time the omnic passed by it had gained a new animal friend. She didn’t think anything of it at first because the Bastion seemed to easily attract wildlife, especially smaller creatures, but when the omnic passed by again after an hour and a half later she was surprised to also see a small deer following along. She thought about getting up to get a closer look at the two, but decided not to because she didn’t want to scare the creature away and settled for snapping a few pictures on her phone. She continued working after silently fawning over the pictures and continued to sneak a few glances every so often.

-

After a few more hours the mechanic had got the tracking device to stay on for longer and longer intervals. And so she decided that she would take a break while things were going well and use the time to continue north to Sweden.

When she finished putting everything away she began calling out for the Bastion. The omnic had wandered off again with its friend, but from experience she was confident enough that it would return in a few minutes. But a few minutes passed and the omnic had neither responded nor returned. The mechanic began to worry, but decided to wait a few more minutes. She reassured herself by imagining that the omnic had wandered further than usual and that's why it was taking a little longer to get back. Yet more time passed and still there was no sight of the omnic or its yellow companion. The mechanic yelled out again for the Bastion, voice trembling a little. When she was greeted with silence for a third time she immediately rushed out of the truck bed and jumped out onto the fresh snow.

She looked to the left and came face to face with a man in all black tactical gear pointing a gun in her direction. His face was obscured by a black helmet with red eye holes and the mechanic let out a large gasp before a strong arm wrapped behind her head and covered her mouth. The mechanic hands shot up to grab the gloved hand, but they were snatched back down and behind her back. She tried to move her head to see behind her but the grip of the person was too strong and tightened with her every move.  
Her eyes frantically searched for a way out, but she was completely surrounded by these anonymous soldiers. She violently thrashed around, but it seemed pointless as the person holding her had barely moved as she fought. Her throat began to burn as she tried to scream, but her cries were completely muffled by the gloved hand.

The figure that she had seen first lowered his gun and pulled out a small black box. He put it up to his mouth and began to speak into it.

“Target retrieved. We will be returning shortly,” The voice grunted out.

“Good,” a deep, whispery voice crackled from the device. The mechanic felt a chill run down her spine at the voice. She didn’t know the voice, but everything about it sounded ominous and her heart began to race at the thought of having to meet that voice. 

Again the mechanic tried to escape the hold she was in. She lowered her head and swiftly jerked it back into the assailants head. She felt a blunt object connect and a sharp pain shot from the back of her head to the front.

The mechanic’s head hung down and she tried to focus her eyes on her feet as they came in and out of focus. Her ears began to ring and her head was throbbing in pain, she tried to understand what had happened but the pain was too disorienting. She blinked repeatedly still trying to focus when a pair of boots came into her view. She slowly pulled her head up and with glossy eyes barely formed a man walking towards her with a medium sized sack opened.

Mustering up as much strength as she could in her confusion she brought her leg up and kicked the soldier. Her foot connected with their abdomen and they stumbled back a few steps. The force of the kick was just enough for the person behind her to loosen their grip on her. The mechanic seized the moment and pushed away from them, but in her daze fell face first to the ground. The soldier regained their composure and as the mechanic tried to push herself up off the ground they slammed her back down, pinning her with their knee on her back. She again began to scream, hoping that someone, something, anything could hear her. The soldier dug harder into the mechanic’s back and her scream died off with a whimper. Tears began to roll down the side of her face and she squeezed her eyes shut. Her body relaxed as all the fight in her left and she completely gave up.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but not sweet, sorry :^(


	21. Chapter 21

The mechanic’s cheek began to sting from the cold snow it was pressed against. It didn’t last long when she was snatched up by the back of her sweater and her head began to throb again. There was a warm hot fluid sliding down the back of her head and she assumed that she had cut her head on the helmet the soldier was wearing when she tried to head butt them.  
The mechanic was being forced to remain on her knees as the previous soldier returned to put the sack over her head. She couldn’t see through the sack, but felt and heard a presence step in front of her.

“Don’t pull another stunt like you just did or you’ll be sorry. Just because Talon needs you alive, doesn’t mean you can get away with everything. Besides a mechanic only needs their hands, right men?” the voice let out a dark chuckle. And a few laughs joined in.

The mechanic’s eyes widened and her throat went dry. She began to quickly inhale and exhale in short bursts. Her heart was pounding in her ears and escalated the pain in her head. She clenched her shaking hands into fists trying to steady herself, but her whole body began to shake as well.

One of the soldiers snatched the mechanic roughly pulled the mechanic up by the arm and began walking. The mechanic stumbled along, headache getting worse with each step.

Suddenly the soldiers around her began muttering and she could tell that something was wrong. A few them had cussed and were apparently in disbelief from what she heard. Then one of the men, she assumed it was the same one that relayed the message of her captured, suddenly shouted out:

“Shoot it!”

Dozens of guns cocked and someone pushed the mechanic to the ground. She threw her hands over her head in hopes to protect herself from whatever it was that had scared the soldiers.

“Dweet! Dweet! Dweet! Dweet!”

The mechanic instantly recognized the noise and snatched the sack off of her head. Trying to ignore the pain the mechanic whipped her head the same direction as the guns were facing and felt joy at the sight of the Bastion. Immediately the joy diminished and was replaced with dread. The mechanic brought her hands up to her mouth and her eyes widened as she heard the guns begin to unload.               
Time seemed to slow down as the mechanic watched the omnic go from standing to folding in on itself in different ways. When the mechanic realized what was happening she threw herself flat onto the ground once again and just as she did a barrage of bullets went whizzing overhead.

Screams and grunts ripped around her as the soldiers fell in heaps around her. The mechanic covered her ears as she tried to block out the sounds of death around her. But nothing could block out the sounds of armor and bones being broken as bullets ravaged through them.

When the firing stopped the mechanic looked towards the Bastion. It was still in sentry mode and smoke curled and danced out of its long barrel. Hundreds of empty bullet shells littered the snow around the omnic. On top of the Bastion’s peeking head the mechanic could still see the orange beanie she had given it. The omnic waved at her with its small little repair tool. The mechanic waved back mechanically.

She began to blindly walk towards the omnic, carefully stepping around the bodies lying around her. She could her the groans of the soldiers who had not been killed from their wounds, but she continued to stagger towards the omnic. The mechanic walked to the side of the omnic and dropped to the floor. Her breathing was slow and ragged before erupting into full sobs. The omnic still sat in sentry configuration, but let out what was probably reassuring beeps every so often.

The omnic suddenly let out the same alarming beeps. The mechanic rubber her eyes and looked up to see an armored van release a bunch of similarly dressed soldiers. Before the mechanic could even react the Bastion let out a triumph tune and halved its size, turning into what appeared to be a small tank. It went charging into the men and each loud boom sent men and parts of men flying through the air.  
The mechanic could only watch in silent horror as the Bastion unleashed its fury onto the truck before turning back into its regular form. She had never graphic violence in person until that day. When the Bastion returned to her side she flinched, the omnic let out a dejected beep and took a step back. The mechanic instantly felt bad, but couldn’t form a coherent sentence to comfort the omnic. She continued to sit with her eyes glued to the floor trying to ignore the carnage around her. Tears silently rolled out of her eyes, but she wasn’t sure why.

Those people had attacked her. They were trying to kidnap her, they hurt her, threatened her. But no matter what excuse she made she couldn’t help but feel that they too were humans with lives of their own. Lives that were gone.

What if they had families? Friends?

Her mind battled with itself. Did they deserve to die? What could she have done to prevent this?  
She tried to reason with herself, but nothing helped her feel better. She was only pulled out of her thoughts when something began to vibrate in her pocket.

The mechanic pulled it out and looked at the screen with empty eyes. It had turned black again, but this time instead of the skull Sombra’s face appeared.

“Damn, are you okay? You don’t look so hot,” the hacker half frowned at the mechanic.  
The mechanic shook her head back and forth slowly. Her voice still refused to be heard.

“I heard that you had been captured and contacted you as soon as I could. It looks like you’re fine, but what happened?” Sombra emphasized the last part.

The mechanic felt something her face get hot and something inside of her just open up.  
“You set me up? How could you betray me like that even after I agreed to work for you and you alone? You knew those people didn’t you? Didn’t you?!” the mechanic began yelling at her phone screen, tears streaming down her face.

Even Sombra pulled away from the screen blinking a few times in astonishment.  
“You want to know what happened, huh? The friends you sent are dead,” the mechanic turned the screen towards the fallen soldier then back to herself, “they were killed by Bastion trying to protect me. You made us take their lives. You sent them here. How could you?” by the end of the sentence the mechanic was blubbering.

On the screen Sombra sighed and rubbed her temples.

“I didn’t send them. Yes, those are Talon agents but they’re not under my command. I told you not to stay anywhere for too long. They must have caught up to you. I tried my best to put distance between you and them, but I guess they were determined. Or you didn’t listen.” Sombra eyes darkened and she narrowed them at the mechanic.

The mechanic tried to respond, but Sombra started talking again.  
“Look, you’ve never seen war or death before. I get it you lived the good life. But once you chose to stay with that omnic you made a decision that came with consequences. And now you’re dealing those consequences. So either you suck it up and accept your new life or you mope about it for the rest of your life. But what you need to know is that now Talon will probably want you dead.”

Sombra had said that nonchalantly with a small shrug, but the sentence echoed within the mechanic. She looked at Sombra with pleading eyes and was greeted with the smuggest smirk she had ever seen.  
“But you don’t have to worry. I know someone and got you a small, private plane to Sweden from Kiel. But you need to hurry because if you don’t get there by mid-morning they’ll be gone.”

The mechanic began to panic, not sure if she could make it. It was already 2 a.m. but in the corner of the screen Sombra had pulled up a map with her precise location. It showed an exact route to take that would get her from Wolfsburg to Kiel in a little over 3 hours.    

“But what about Bastion?” the mechanic looked up at the omnic who was still standing in front of her. It stood still, diode looking at her but not making any other movement or sounds.

“Not my problem.” And with that Sombra’s face disappeared off the screen and was replaced with the route she had created.

The mechanic slowly got up, mindful of her pounding head. The Bastion looked at her and stepped away, but she grabbed onto its hand and lightly tugged along for it to follow her. The omnic slowly closed its hand around the mechanic’s and trailed behind. The mechanic tried to ignore the bodies all around her, but the blood had stained the pure, white snow and left a gory mess. She fought back tears and carefully walked around all of the chaos and back to the truck, which they hadn’t even been that far from.

She got the Bastion in the bed and settled. She didn’t know what would happen with the omnic, but she knew that despite what happened it saved her from a potentially dangerous and miserable fate. The mechanic rested her forehead on the omnic’s head and closed her eyes. The cold metal was soothing to her head both physically and mentally. She decided that even if it was just an omnic with a history of war death that it was its own unique, loving individual and she would do whatever she could to protect it.

So she pulled out the tracking device and stuck it under the armor of the Bastion’s chest plate. It still didn’t completely work, but if it could give her even a sliver of a chance of reuniting with the Bastion after the flight then she would put all her confidence into it.

After finishing in the back she walked to the front of the truck. She stopped before getting in and turned around. She took a deep breath and quickly tip toed to the fallen bodies. She quickly scanned the area, trying her best to ignore the bodies, and grabbed what appeared to be the least bloody gun. She whispered a quiet apology to the nearest body and scampered into the truck before driving off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this we are officially nearing the end of the fic. I'm hoping to wrap this up within three chapters, but we will see. It might be less if I can cut out the boring parts without it being too choppy. But thank you to everyone that has supported me this far along. It means a whole lot!


	22. Chapter 22

By 6 a.m. the mechanic had pulled into a largely empty dock surrounded by a makeshift wall of cargo containers. She got out to look around a bit, but really couldn’t see anything; the cargo containers were large and stacked so high that the mechanic wouldn’t be able to see over them unless she climbed them all.

As the mechanic looked around at the containers a woman’s voice shouted from in front of her, “Whos are ya and whys are ya here?” The woman looked at the mechanic from head to toe with furrowed brows and narrowed eyes.

“I…uh… was sent by Sombra. For the flight to Sweden” the mechanic also eyed the stranger warily. She was a woman around the same age as the mechanic, but with a taller, toned figured. Whoever the woman was the mechanic knew she wouldn’t want to be on the woman’s bad side.

The woman crossed her arms and lifted her chin to the mechanic, clearly more relaxed than before.   
“Ah, so yours the sucker she’s dragged into hers lil game this time, huh?” the woman seemed to have some kind of accent that the mechanic couldn’t quite place.

“Something like that” the mechanic lightly huffed. She didn’t have the energy to retort to the woman’s little joke.

“That’s fine but I don’t carry large cargo,” the woman eyed the truck, “Take only what ya need and then follow me.” The woman walked a few feet away and leaned on the empty cargo containers and occupied herself on her phone.

The mechanic slowly pulled all of her suitcases, bags, and tools out of the truck and set them off to the side. When she climbed into the truck bed she was greeted by both the omnic and its bird friend.

As she unbuckled the Bastion her heart began to sink. She didn’t know what would happen to them when they split up. Would they both reunite or would this be their final parting? She could feel tears begin to form so she blinked a few times and shook her head to fight them back. The mechanic really did consider the omnic to be a friend and the thought of leaving them behind or getting lost from them tore at her heart in a way she had never felt.

The mechanic reached into her bag and pulled out the tracking device. It wasn’t finished, and there was no guarantee it would actually work or help, but the mechanic was desperate. She wanted to know that she at least tried to do something that would help her and Bastion reunite.

The mechanic scooted close to the omnic and knocked on its chest plate. The omnic tilted its head to her and let out its ever familiar questioning “zwee.” The mechanic knocked again, the omnic kept its head titled for a minute. Right as the mechanic went to knock again as hissing sound came from the omnic and its chest plate opened up. Inside it revealed a complex system of wires, springs, dials, and other systems that overwhelmed the mechanic’s aching head. She carefully attached the tracking device to the back of the omnic’s chest plate then cut it on. It let out a faint beep upon its awakening then silenced again. Holding her breath the mechanic brought out the holopad and shut it on. She waited with bated breath as it slowly but surely came to life. Then a small red light appeared on the screen’s map. The mechanic let out a sigh and smiled. It worked for now and to her that’s all that mattered because it meant they had a chance. The mechanic closed the omnic’s chest plate and stepped back.

The omnic noticed the mechanic was done and walked out of the truck bed and to the edge of the dock and stared into the water. It didn’t make a single sound or movement. It simply stared.

Suddenly Bastion walked off the dock and straight into the water. The mechanic’s eyes widened and she let out a small yelp in surprise. She instantly ran to the edge of the water and peered in. A sharp pain spread through her head like a bolt of lightning, but she ignored it. The Bastion had walked straight into the ocean! Could an omnic’s system even handle water? She frantically reached into the water hoping to grab the omnic before it could sink. Her hands grasped at nothing and she pulled them out, letting them loosely fall to her sides, dripping wet.

She began thinking about all the machinery and omnics she had worked on, but none of them had ever been in for issues about water. So maybe it wasn’t a threat? Or maybe Bastions were more durable? Didn’t the creators make them with the intentions to be able to handle almost all kind of conditions?

The mechanic began reassuring herself with vague memories of early articles and texts she had read about the omnics. There was still a lingering fear in the back of her mind, but she tried to be positive.

As she thought harder the mechanic’s headache grew. She gripped her head and continued to peer into the water, hoping to catch just a glimpse of the omnic.

“Hey! Let’s hurry up. What’re ya doing down there? Let’s go!” the woman shouted as she put her phone away in her pocket. Annoyance was evident in her voice.

The mechanic lingered for a little longer. Her worry was overwhelming, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it. She slowly turned back in the direction of the woman and was surprised to see that the woman was carrying her tools with such ease that they may as well have been made of air. Those tools had been with the mechanic for a decent amount of time and she still had trouble hauling all of them around. The woman had already started walking off and the mechanic soon followed, but not before stopping and looking behind her at the water once more before continuing to follow.

She followed the woman into a different clearing than the one the truck was parked in. This one was almost exactly identical except instead of her truck was a small drop ship. The mechanic was apprehensive of how the woman had got a hold of one since drop ships were usually only for the military, but she again decided that questioning the woman would probably give her information she didn’t want to know.  

The woman walked the stuff into the ship before walking back to collect the rest from the mechanic. The mechanic stood off to the side watching the woman and trying not to get in her way as she carried luggage from the mechanic to the ship.  

While the woman was taking the last of the suitcases in, the little yellow bird flew up to the mechanic with something in its mouth. It landed on her shoulder and looked at her, tilting its head. The mechanic was surprised that the little bird decided to perch on her, but appreciated that it stayed around even after the Bastion had gone. The bird nudged its beak towards the mechanic a few times and when she got the hint she reached her hand to the bird. The bird dropped something small in her hand and flew off. The mechanic smiled when she looked at the little twig that it had placed in her hand.

 --

The flight to Sweden was short and a little rough, but it wasn’t without its perk. Since the ship was high end it did have extra nice facilities. The woman had given the mechanic permission to use whatever she needed as long as she didn’t leave a mess. So the very first thing the mechanic did was take a shower and change into clean clothes.

Unfortunately the shower had not been as pleasant as she hoped it would be. While the water was warm and soothing the mechanic was littered with bruises and small cuts. Every drop of water, and especially soap, brought some kind of stinging or burning. The worst part was washing her hair. The dried blood had tangled her hair, but when she tried to comb her fingers through the tangles it hurt whatever injury was on the back of her head. She had tried to maneuver a mirror so that the wound would be visible, but no matter how she moved her hair she couldn’t see it.

When the mechanic was done she sifted through her bags and found her leftover food from the trip to the city. She heated it up and scarfed it down. It didn’t fill her up so she grabbed the pastries she bought and downed those as well.

Finished, the mechanic laid on one of the benches and closed her eyes. The ship would probably be landing in a bit, but the mechanic wanted at least some form of rest. She closed her eyes and began to drift off to sleep.

Her breath was steady then picked up its pace. She could hear bullets whizzing over her, men’s groans and their bodies falling to the ground in a heap. There was screaming and crying.

The mechanic jolted awake, sat up and looked around. It was the same drop ship she had fell asleep in. It was just her and her multiple suitcases and toolboxes. Everything was still in pristine condition, but the mechanic could still feel the fear from her sleep. She was breathing hard and sweating ever so slightly. She looked to her hands and they were shaking. Even now she could hear those same screams. The ones from when the Bastion had saved her. The mechanic put her face in her hands and tried not to cry, but the tears poured out anyway.

“Hey! What’s wrong withs ya?” a confused voice pulled the mechanic’s head up. It was the woman. They must have landed because the mechanic couldn’t hear the ship’s engines anymore. The woman waited for a response but the mechanic just stared at her. She felt pathetic, but couldn’t find the words to answer the woman.

“Ah ha! I knows what your problem is. That bleeding froms your head, hurts don’t it?” the woman beamed as if she had just solved the greatest mystery ever. “I can wraps it up for you, if ya okay with it” The mechanic gave the woman a small nod, but she wasn’t really comprehending that her head was in fact actually bleeding.

The woman had walked around the ship gathering some things then seated herself in front of the mechanic. She got to work cleaning around the cut and in a few minutes had a bandage wrapped around the wound.

“And there ya goes,” the woman gave the mechanic a thumbs up, “doesn’t look too serious, but if ya the types to really worry about things ya can goes to a hospital.” She shrugged and walked off.

The mechanic thanked the woman and got up, quickly drying her face of tears. Her hands were shaking and she began to consider the hospital, but decided that finding the Bastion was much more important. The woman had already gathered up all the mechanics bags and put them outside of the drop ship. The mechanic made her way outside of the ship and into the bright sunlight. She blinked to get her eyes used to the bright light and looked around. They were in a large empty field.

“Where are we?” the mechanic looked at the woman who was standing confidently with her hands on her hips in the field, she appeared to be soaking up the sun and fresh air.

“Just a little outside of Gothenburg. That’s where ya wanted to be, right?” the woman looked over to the mechanic.   
“Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it, really, but how am I supposed to make it into the city?” the mechanic looked around the field. There really wasn’t much around aside from some surrounding trees.

“Dunno. My jobs finished here.” The woman shrugged and turned back to the ship. She gave the mechanic a strong pat on the back, “Sombra’s probably gots somethings up her sleeve.” Before the mechanic knew it the ship was taking off and she was all alone again.  

The mechanic felt a vibrating in her pocket and tensed up. She really didn’t want to answer what was most likely going to be a call from Sombra, but she knew it was her way to get out of the random field she was in. Pulling every ounce of motivation she could muster she pulled out her phone and looked at the screen. To her surprise there was no incoming call but instead there were a series of messages from Sombra. She kept rereading the last one in excited disbelief.

_Where do you need to go? Send me every location and I’ll work everything out._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for the long absence, but this semester ended up being much more stressful than i expected, but it's over and very soon so will this fic. Thank you again for all the support and nice comments, I'll try to get to those asap.


	23. Chapter 23

At first the mechanic was worried that she wouldn’t be able to find any information about the so called “Bastion attack,” but it seemed like every single person in the city was talking about it. Many people were gathered around one small building so the mechanic decided to snoop around to try and find out anything she could.

It didn’t take long for the mechanic to overhear a particular interesting conversation.

“And some random man offered to handle the dangerous omnic,” a man snorted out.  
“All by himself? Who does he think he is that he can handle a Bastion,” a woman scoffed.  
“Well he said he invented the things, but still that’s a bit much. He probably feels guilty since his creations caused so many causalities in the war,” another woman shrugged apathetically, “at least the mayor and a small group of soldiers went with him to destroy the thing.”

The mechanic butt into the conversation almost immediately after the woman had finished talking, “Sorry to intrude, but which way did that man go? I… uh want to know which areas I should avoid.”

All three members of the group gave the mechanic a shocked look and they looked slightly embarrassed for gossiping so loudly in public, but the second woman pointed in the direction that the search party went.  
“It’s probably best if you just avoid the forest in general right now. Who knows where that dangerous omnic is right now,” the first woman gave the mechanic a small smile, yet a familiar hatred was evident in her eyes.

The mechanic gave the group a big thanks then walked away as inconspicuously as possible. When she thought she was alone the mechanic began to slink off in the direction that the woman had pointed to. As soon as the mechanic felt she was deep enough into the brush to avoid any snoopers she pulled out her tracking device. Despite the fact that it was basically useless the mechanic needed to at least try, it would at least help her feel better in case she failed. Which she really hoped she didn’t.

She cut the holopad on and it came to life with hesitation. At first the screen was empty aside from the map, but then a red dot appeared on the screen. Then it jumped to another location. Then another. And another. It kept moving from place to place. Then it cut on and off. On. Off. On. It stayed on but continue to glitch about. The mechanic stared at the holopad, her face slowly turning red as she bit her lip and her eyebrows furrowed.

Suddenly she launched the holopad at the nearest tree. It hit the tree with a spark and its screen faded to black, permanently. The mechanic’s chest heaved as she stared at the shattered device laying on the forest ground. The bitter taste of defeat began to bubble in her mouth and tears prickled in the corner of her eyes. She shut her eyes and whispered halfhearted reassurances to herself.

The mechanic continued to stray further into the forest desperate to at least try and find her friend, even if it meant getting lost in the process. Every now and then tears would betray her and slip down her face to which she would quickly brush them away in annoyance.

Her head would whip in the direction of any sound that she heard. A twig snapping, the wings of a bird flapping, small animals chittering about, gunshots. Wait. Gunshots?

At first she thought that maybe her ears were deceiving her, but in her most recent experiences there is nothing more distinctive than the sounds of guns being fired. The mechanic whipped her head in the direction of the sound and cocked her head, straining to hear anything she could.

Ever so faintly she could hear the sound of men shouting. She couldn’t tell if they were arguing or in trouble, but without even considering what she could be headed into she took off in the direction of the commotion. It could have been a trap set up by Talon, but if there was any chance that she could be reunited with her Bastion then she would risk her life for that possibility.

The mechanic’s feet pounded on the ground as fast and hard as her heart did. She was tired and starting to feel a burn in her sides, but couldn’t stop. Not now, not when she could be so close to her friend. It had been too quiet for the mechanic and she was worried that she may have missed her chance, but she continued anyway.

Finally starting to feel at her limit the mechanic slowed down and came to a full stop. She folded her hands together and held them on top of her head, hoping it would help her catch her breath faster. Her breath was ragged and she was practically gasping for air. The mechanic could feel her heart throughout her body and her ears were pounding. Her breathing was so loud and her ears were pounding so hard that she almost didn’t hear the three small explosion like sounds.

“Shit!” She choked out between breaths.

Again she took off in the direction of the noise. Her legs felt numb and she wasn’t sure just how much longer she would last yet she somehow she forced her feet to move just a little faster.

She ran for what felt like hours, but the further she went the more voices she began to hear. With every step the sound of men groaning started to become clearer to her ears. Eventually she came to a halt when she saw men tied to different trees.

The men were squirming and quite obviously trying to break free of their bonds, but it was to no avail. The mechanic immediately ran up to one of the men. He had grey hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and glasses. He appeared to be wearing a suit and some kind of vest, but the mechanic couldn’t quite make it out with the wiring wrapped around his body. The other men were all wearing tactical army gear of some sort.

“Hey! You there! Help!” one of the men in tactical gear shouted at the mechanic as she emerged out of the trees into the open.

“Who are you?” another man demanded, “Nevermind, that doesn’t matter. Help us out of these restraints this instant!”  
The mechanic had already started searching for an end to the rope-like wirings that trapped the men.  
“What happened here?” she managed to stutter out in between shaky, exhausted breathes.

“We were betrayed by a mad man! There’s a wild Bastion stalking out there and he tied us up to stop us from disposing of it. He’s sentenced us to die if we don’t kill it. Please hurry!” the man pleaded with the mechanic. The desperation was evident in his voice and the mechanic’s heart began to sink. She wanted to tell him how wrong he was about Bastion. That he wasn’t going to harm anyone and that the omnic was just trying to live like everyone else. But she knew better. If she was going to catch up to her Bastion then she was going to have to keep her mouth shut.

The mechanic continued to move around the man and gaze at the wiring. Moments ago she was actually trying to free the man, but now it was nothing more than a façade. When she believed that she was far enough out of his peripheral that he couldn’t actually watch what she was doing she asked him,

“Which way did they go?” She tried to feign shock and worry in her voice.

“Does that really matter right now? Just help us out this instant!” the man shouted out at her.

“I’m trying! I’m trying!” the mechanic lashed back, lying.

“I’m sorry, but it’s my duty to keep my town safe” the mayor sighed and let his head fall, “I don’t know who you are or why you’re in the forest at a horrible time like this, but when you’re done helping here you need to turn around and return the way you came. It’s exactly opposite of that killing machine and bound to get you back to safety with no problem.” The man’s voice had softened and it was evident that he was trying to quickly make amends for snapping at the mechanic.

The mechanic’s hands quickly came to a halt and she stood up and returned to the front of the man.

“Hey! What are you- “ the man frowned, baffled.  
“I’m so sorry,” the mechanic offered the man a small, almost sad smile and took off in the exact direction that he had told her to avoid.  
As she sprinted off she could hear all the men shouting at her. Some were pleading for her to come back while others were trying to warn her of the danger she was putting herself into. She willed her feet to move even faster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I say this EVERY time, but sorry and thank you!


	24. Chapter 24

The mechanic ran like her life depended on it. The wind whipped past her, chapping her lips and burning her eyes dry. Her legs had almost no feeling in them and the rest of her body was aching in pain. The worst of it was her head. It didn’t seem to be fully healed and was pounding so hard she felt her balance was being thrown off. She had not been running long since she left the mayor and his squad tied to those trees, but she had been running long before that and it was definitely catching up to her.

Her throat began to burn from the inside as if she had shallowed acid. It started at the back of her mouth then traveled down to the rest of her throat. Paired with her dry mouth the mechanic erupted into a violent coughing fit. It forced her to come to a complete halt. When she did she felt as if the entire world was a carpet that was snatched from under her feet. She stumbled but was able to lean herself on the trunk of a tree. She tried to catch her breath, but the burning continued and intensified.

The burning spread from her throat to the bottom of her stomach and the mechanic used one hand to grasp at her throat and the other to hold her stomach. A few stinging tears rolled down her cheeks when the mechanic violently hunched over and threw up all over the forest ground. She choked and gagged in between releasing everything that was inside of her and when her stomach was emptied she dry heaved some more.

When her body finally seemed to finish punishing her the mechanic wiped off her mouth with the back of her hand and searched her bag for her bottle of water. It wasn’t full, but it was a relief nonetheless.

“Second, no stopping to play with the little animals or any of that nonsense.”  
“Boo Weee.”  
The mechanic’s head shot up with wide eyes and mouth agape. In her quick bout of sickness she had not noticed that just in the clearing a little ahead of her a man was lecturing and laying out some rules for someone or something.

But that response was unmistakable.  

Pushing herself off of the tree the mechanic stumbled into the clearing that the voices had come from. She was exhausted and her body threatened to betray her, but nothing could stop her the second she saw the one thing she had been searching for.

“Bastion!” she croaked out in joy, relief and surprise. Her eyebrow knitted together as her mouth formed a weak smile.

The omnic turned around and its diode flashed the brightest blue the mechanic had ever seen. Bastion began to beep, chirp, whirr and buzz as it recognized its friend. It started heading towards the young mechanic with loud, strong footsteps. The mechanic too began to stumble her way over to the omnic.

When the two were right in front of each other the mechanic immediately embraced the omnic. She pressed her face against its cool armor, embracing the relief it brought to her overheated body but more importantly relishing in the reunion with her companion.

The omnic smelt of saltwater, the aquatic life it had met during its underwater travels and the familiar scent of metal that the mechanic was used to. It was like home, but less lonely.

The reunion was cut short when the mechanic heard the cock of a firearm.

“And who are you” the voice demanded laced with suspicion.

The mechanic stepped away from the omnic and peered around it, looking at the man who had pointed a weapon attached to his arm at her. The mechanic stiffened, taking a hard look at the man. He looked so familiar to her…

She gasped, “I know you!”  
The blonde man looked taken aback for a split moment before repeating his question with more force.

“Y-You’re Brigitte’s dad and Reinhardt’s friend. They’ve told me so much about you, wow!” the mechanic started to make a beeline for the man who was now completely perplexed. He had lowered his weapon ever so slightly, but was ready for any action if it was necessary. She rambled on and on until she finally introduced herself.

“Oh hoh! So you’re the poor soul that big oaf and my precious daughter have been latched onto,” the man’s eye softened considerably and his body language shifted from the defensive to a more formal one.

The mechanic let out a nervous laugh as a blush made her already red face heat up once more.

“You know they’ve been worried sick about you this holiday season,” the man eyed the mechanic from head to toe. It made her uncomfortable knowing that someone of his caliber was sizing her up, especially considering she looked and felt the worst she has in her entire life.

“They have? I’m sorry I didn’t want to worry them, but I just…” the mechanic trailed off and glanced over at Bastion, who was occupying themselves with the company of a wild squirrel.

“Yes, well they have nothing to worry about now. I’ll be sending you on your way back home,” the man dusted off his hands as if he had just finished some kind of task.   
“What? No! Y-you can’t do that!” the mechanic gasped and felt a plunging in her chest. She took a step back from the man and back to the omnic. Its squirrel friend scampered off and the Bastion looked up at her and let out its familiar questioning chirp. “I can’t return home, it’s dangerous for me and… Reinhardt. What will he?”

“Ahhh you’re making a chicken out of a feather. That brute won’t mind that you didn’t contact him during the holidays and Brigitte reassured him that you were fine and just-”

“You don’t understand! I can’t go back, I NEED to stay with Bastion” the mechanic shouted and pleaded at the man. His previous jokingly dismissive attitude turned to one of surprise, then got serious.   
“I don’t need any dead weight causing trouble for me. Do you see that omnic over there? It’s my burden. Every life lost is one that I helped take. So no you will not be staying and putting another burden on me.” The man’s was now glaring at the mechanic who returned the look with equal ferocity.

“I’m not a burden.”  
“You would be. What can you do?”  
“I’m a mechanic. I can help fix things and I know how to take care of myself.”  
“Hah! What can a mechanic do that an engineer can’t?” the man crossed his arms with a haughty laugh. The mechanic balled her fists. She knew he was right. Everything she could do he could do and more. But she had come so far, she refused to back down.   
“Then teach me. I helped fix the Bastion once and Reinhardt trusted me to mend his shield so-‘

“You fixed the Bastion? When did it get damage? Where?” Torbjorn looked genuinely surprised. The mechanic’s finger flexed as she relaxed, feeling an opportunity to prove that she should stay with the Bastion.

“Yes, I did. Well kind of. I did what I could and let it handle the rest,” she saw the man raise an eyebrow and felt that she was losing his interest so she grabbed the Bastion’s hand and tugged on it. The omnic tilted its head at her then followed the direction in which she had pulled it. She let out a sigh and closed her eyes hoping that the omnic would help her win this opportunity. The mechanic raised her hand and slowly knocked on the omnic’s chest plate three times.

_One._

_Two._

_Three._

A few second after the third knock the Bastion began to open its chest plate. Upon opening up a pile of rubbish fell out and onto the ground around them. The mechanic winced at her failed gadget, knowing it wouldn’t help her case. The engineer in front of her looked at the mess before looking back at her.

“Uhh… I didn’t actually fix anything in the chest plate, it was the arm,” she grabbed the omnic’s arm and knocked on the arm that held the damage she had helped men. Thankfully the omnic was cooperative and opened it right up. “See!”

Torbjorn stared into the omnic’s arm for a few minutes. He poked and prodded every so often and would mutter under his breath here and there. It honestly made the mechanic very nervous as she quickly ran her hands through her head, causing a wince from her still hurting head.

“Hm, that’s not too bad. But you’re still not an engineer” the man hummed.

The mechanic’s face dropped. ‘ _Why are these old men all so stubborn’_ she thought to herself in an internal rage.

“But you have the potential to learn all the trick to get there” he nodded his head and crossed his arms with resolve. The mechanic cocked her head as her brows furrowed. Her eyes scanned the man’s face, eyes going back and forth hoping to discover something.

“And how am I supposed to do that?” she reluctantly dragged out the question.   
“Huh! Leave this to an expert,” the man seemed to talking to himself and once again dusted his hands off of some imaginary task, “I’ll do it. But if you cause trouble that brute is coming to get you.”

The mechanic’s mouth dropped open before quickly turning into a smile that wrinkled her nose and the corners of her eyes.   
“Oh thank you so much, Mr. Lindholm. This means so much to mean, I’ve been so much with Bastion” the mechanic snatched up Torbjorn’s hand and was furiously shaking it as she rambled on. The engineer rolled his eyes and waited for the woman to calm down and release his hand.

When she did he turned his back to her and started walking further into the woods, “One thing you have got to tell me is how did this happen?” He looked back and motioned at the Bastion who had already started following the engineer. The mechanic took the hint and power walked to catch up with the man.

“It’s a bit of a long story.”

“We have a long journey ahead of us,” the man chuckled “but you can save it for later. I think you need to rest.”

The mechanic gave the engineer a small thank you. For a brief second she closed her eyes and stopped walking. She breathed in a large bit of air before letting out a deep breath that had built up over her journey. Bastion had also stopped when the mechanic had and stopped there in front of her looking back at her. The omnic tilted its head in a curious manner as the mechanic began to rummage through her pockets for something. After some digging the mechanic pulled out her fist with something in it.

She urged the omnic to open its hand and when it did she placed a single little twig in its metal palm. The omnic brought the twig up to its face before erupting in chirps and prancing around the mechanic while spinning the upper half of its body. The mechanic began to laugh at the omnic’s antics before feeling something brush against her face.

On her shoulder was the little yellow bird that she had grown used to with the Bastion. She smiled before it took off and flew in circles above the omnic and her, chirping. The omnic joined in and the mechanic felt in her heart a swelling that spread through her whole body.

“What did I say about dragging behind?” Torbjorn shouted from afar.  

All three of the living beings, bird, omnic and human, turned to look at the man before speeding up to catch up with him.

“Sorry I just-“  
“You don’t always have to apologize- here,” Torbjorn handed the mechanic a phone.

She took it and slowly held it up to her ear.

“Uh… hello?”

A jovial voice boomed on the other side of the line “HELLO!”

-

-

-

-

-

-

In the mechanic’s pocket her phone emitted a light purple glow and a single message appeared.

_I haven’t forget about our deal, friend._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's done!! It took over a year (which it really shouldn't have?? lol) but it is finally complete and with a cheesy ending. While I'm not 100% satisfied with this fic I'm trying not to be too hard on myself since this is not only my first fic, but also my first time writing something that isn't strictly a research paper of some sort. A really big thank you to everyone for reading this messy, sometimes disjointed fic and an extra big shout out to Nooneinparticular for always leaving such positive comments. They really encouraged me and helped me write when I felt like I should just give up. But again a big thanks to everyone that every interacted with this fic, it meant a lot ;w;


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